July 17, 2019 — Record high temperatures might be slowing down some fish pickers in Alaska’s commercial salmon fleet, but you wouldn’t know it from their landings.
The Alaska Department of Fish & Game predicted a statewide annual harvest of 42 million sockeye salmon. Just six weeks into the summer season, the total harvest already stands at 39 million.
Last week, Bristol Bay’s districts landed 14.5 million fish in what could be the third-largest weekly harvest on record for the bay. Overall, the region is 19 percent ahead of 2018 figures, and most other areas of the state are trending above 2018. That fishery typically peaks around the Fourth of July, but the run has not been terribly predictable for several years.