Commercial salmon harvest in Alaska has reached an estimated total of over 60 million fish, up more than 24 million fish through Monday, July 17 from a week earlier, with increased harvests from Southwest to Southeast to the Central region, according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game data.
ADF&G biologists reported a preliminary harvest through July 17 that included 39 million sockeyes, over 14 million pink salmon, 6.7 million chums, 124,000 Chinooks and over 14,000 pinks. In the central region alone, the preliminary count rose by over 20 million salmon, up from 31.6 million fish on July 11 to 52.6 million fish by July 17.
In Bristol Bay, the Nushagak District led with a total of 11.4 million fish delivered to processors, up from 9.2 million fish. The Naknek-Kvichak District had 10.7 million salmon, up from 6.1 million as of July 11, and the Egegik District had a total of 9.9 million, up from 7.2 million a week earlier.
In Prince William Sound, the catch rose to over 18 million salmon, thanks to a big boost in pinks.
Prince William Sound overall deliveries reached over 12 million pinks, over four million chums, 1.75 million sockeyes, 8,000 Chinooks and 1,000 cohos, up from 2.5 million pinks, 3.4 million chums, 1.6 million sockeyes, 8,000 Chinooks and 1,000 cohos a week earlier.
Cook Inlet harvesters delivered a total of 865,000 salmon to processors through July 17, up from 566,000 a week earlier.
In the Western Region, the catch through July 17 stood at 4.9 million salmon, up from 3.3 million fish a week earlier. Those deliveries included an overall total of 2.9 million sockeyes, 1.203 million humpies, 767,000 chums, 124,000 Chinooks and 113,000 cohos.
A total of 2.7 million salmon, mostly sockeyes, have been delivered to processors on the Alaska Peninsula, up from 2.1 million fish, again mostly sockeyes, seven days earlier. In the Kodiak area, the catch rose to 1.9 million salmon, including 761,000 pinks, 693,000 sockeyes, 392,000 chums, 10,000 cohos and 5,000 Chinooks, up from a total of 458,000 pinks, 433,000 sockeyes, 260,000 chums, 4,000 Chinooks and 4,000 cohos as of the previous week.
For Southeast Alaska, the catch reached 2.5 million fish, up from 806,000 on July 11. The highly sought after Chinook harvest reached 103,000 fish, up from 72,000. The chum harvest rose to 1.7 million fish, up from 604,000. The pink harvest from 70,000 to 547,000 the coho harvest from 21,000 to 57,000 and the sockeye harvest from 39,000 to 78,000 fish.
In the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region, where only those in Norton Sound are allowed to commercial fish this year due to low returns, the catch rose from a total of 8,000 to 13,000 fish.
Retail prices for sockeye fillets in Anchorage area supermarkets were mostly in the $11.99 to $13.99 a pound range for shoppers using store loyalty cards.