July 10, 2013 — Wild salmon harvests were reaching toward 39 million fish by the second week of July, with harvests slowed in the Copper River and Bristol Bay, and retail prices remaining steady as salmon harvests elsewhere statewide continued to increase.
At Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, whole fresh Copper River king salmon were still prices at $25.99 a pound and whole fresh Copper River sockeyes at $54.95 per fish.
Fresh Copper River king salmon fillets were fetching $39.99 a pound at Pike Place, and fresh Copper River sockeye fillets $20.99 a pound.
In the Copper River district drift fishery, the preliminary commercial harvest reported by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game on July 9 stood at 1.5 million fish, including 9,000 kings, 11,000 chum, 1,000 silver, 12,000 pink and 1,443,000 red salmon.
In Bristol Bay, where the total run was edging toward 19 million fish, the cumulative harvest was 13,240,759 fish.
The 20-year average for the sockeye salmon commercial catch in Bristol Bay is 25,360,300, according to data provided by Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The biggest run for the 20-year period from 1992 through 2012 was 40,462,292 fish in 1993, and the poorest run was 10,035,582 fish in 1998. In 2012, the harvest in Bristol Bay came to 20,578,212 fish, ADFG records show.
The statewide harvest meanwhile, reached 38,804,000 salmon of all species, including 197,000 king, 7,825,000 chum, 97,000 silver, 9,666,000 pink and 21,019,000 sockeye.
Read the full story at The Cordoba Times