May 19, 2025 — After a poor showing last year, Alaska’s statewide commercial salmon harvest appears poised for a rebound, according to projections by state biologists.
This year’s total salmon harvest is expected to be more than twice as big as last year’s total, thanks primarily to stronger returns of pink salmon, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s annual statewide run forecast and commercial harvest projection. The report was released this week.
The department’s projected 2025 total harvest is 214.6 million fish, above the 2000-2023 average of 175 million fish, though well below the record 280 million salmon harvested commercially in 2013. This year’s projected total is much higher than the 103.5 million salmon harvested commercially last year.
If the harvest occurs as projected, it would be the 10th-largest on record, said Forrest Bowers, director of the department’s Division of Commercial Fisheries.