Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Bristol Bay comes off decade of historic runs with moderate and early returns in 2026

July 28, 2026 — Bristol Bay’s sockeye salmon run is coming to a close, and it just surpassed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s pre-season forecast of 44 million fish.

The thing that stands out most this year was that early run timing, said Curry Cunningham, an associate professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and part of a team that creates pre-season and in-season forecasts for the commercial fishery.

“If we look at the large-run-size years in Bristol Bay, we’ve seen generally since about 2015 they’ve been predominantly on time,” Cunningham said.

The last two years have bucked that trend, he said.

“In 2025 and this year in 2026, we’ve seen earlier run timing to Bristol Bay,” he said. “So a bit of a shift back towards run timings we hadn’t seen in quite a while.”

One of the variables that correlates most strongly with run timing is the extent of sea ice in the late spring, Cunningham said. Bristol Bay sockeye tend to return earlier during years with more sea ice in May.

This year’s run was about three days earlier than the long-term average, according to Cunningham, with a midpoint around July 3 or 4. While three days might seem like a small difference, he said it can have big impacts.

“In Bristol Bay, where the vast majority of the run comes through and arrives inshore over the course of two or three weeks, it actually makes a huge difference,” he said.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye run surpasses forecast as harvest nears 29.3M

July 23, 2026 — In a July 21 Bristol Bay fisheries update, the region’s sockeye salmon run has now exceeded preseason expectations, with the total run climbing to 44.38 million fish—surpassing the forecast of 44.05 million—while the cumulative harvest reached 29.29 million sockeye.

The baywide catch on Monday totaled 164,316 fish, nearly double the previous day’s harvest, while daily escapement remained relatively steady at 69,410 fish.

The Nushagak District added 14,689 sockeye to the harvest, bringing its season total to 8.97 million fish, while the district’s total run reached 15.1 million. The Nushagak River sonar counted 3,422 sockeye, pushing seasonal escapement to more than 3.11 million fish, well above the upper end of its escapement goal.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Bristol Bay sockeye run closes in on preseason forecast

July 21, 2026 — According to a July 17 fisheries update from KDLG in Dillingham, Alaska, Bristol Bay’s 2026 sockeye salmon run continues to track toward its preseason forecast, with the total run reaching more than 43.2 million fish and the commercial harvest approaching 28.5 million.

Fishermen harvested 356,707 sockeye on Thursday, bringing the season’s cumulative catch to 28,484,324 fish, about 88 percent of the preseason harvest forecast of 32.26 million sockeye. Total escapement reached 43,297,216 fish, putting the overall run within roughly 750,000 fish of the forecasted 44.05 million fish.

Egegik posted the largest daily harvest, with 163,104 sockeye landed Thursday. The district’s season catch has climbed to 8,571,718 fish, already surpassing its preseason harvest forecast of 7.5 million. Egegik’s total run now stands at 10,477,480 sockeye, well above the projected 8.9 million fish.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaskan fisheries scientists hoping to use AI for salmon enumeration in Bristol Bay

July 20, 2026 — Counting salmon in Alaska has been done the same way since the 1950s.

A field biologist climbs a tower, counts the number of fish swimming through the area every 10 minutes on the hour, hops down and into a skiff, moves to the opposite bank, and counts for another 10 minutes. They then spend 40 minutes reporting that data – just to do it all again the next hour.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

ALASKA: Alaska salmon catch swells to 29.5 million

July 16, 2026 — Alaska’s commercial salmon catch jumped from 21.2 million to 29.5 million for the seven days through July 14, as retail prices generally held, with 24% of the projected annual harvest now met.

Silver Bay Seafoods has adjusted its 2026 Bristol Bay sockeye price to $2 a pound for chilled, floated, bled fish, the Bristol Bay Fishermen’s Association said on Tuesday, July 14. The company will continue to evaluate the season’s financial results, with the final profit share to be calculated and reviewed by the fishermen’s board at the spring meeting, said Janis Harsila, business manager for the BBFA.

On July 15, Trident Seafoods announced a base price increase from $1.25 to $1.65 a pound, bringing its Tier 1 chilled price to $2.

Consumers found fresh fillets of red salmon on sale at Costco warehouses in Anchorage for $14.99 a pound, down $2 from a week earlier. Seafood managers at New Sagaya in Anchorage had Alaska red salmon fillets for $12.95 a pound, while 10th & M held firm at $16.95 a pound. Carrs-Safeway customers with a store card could purchase those fillets for $16.99 a pound, but the regular price was $38.99 a pound.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

AI, drones, and salmon: What new technology could mean for Bristol Bay sockeye counts

July 10, 2026 — Norm Van Vactor stands on the bank of the Wood River facing a mysterious looking grey box with blinking lights.

“So that’s the habitat and the home for our ‘bird’, and it’s a completely self-contained unit,” he said, pointing to the box.

At exactly 8:30 a.m., the box opens and a drone emerges. It quickly takes off on an automated flight path, flying to an observation position above the right bank of the Wood River. It hovers there for a few minutes, with its camera fixed on the river bed.

The goal is to feed the images into a computer model to generate more accurate salmon escapement counts. For over 70 years, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has used counting towers in Bristol Bay to track salmon escapement. That means techs hand count each fish that swims by. But new technology is on its way to the Bay, Van Vactor is a project lead.

“I feel strongly that there are some tools out there, like this, that could significantly enhance the quality of our data collection that helps manage this fishery,” he said. Van Vactor noted that this project wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

ALASKA: Fleet shifts to Naknek-Kvichak as Bristol Bay nears 29 million

July 9, 2026 — Bristol Bay’s 2026 sockeye salmon run continued to build Monday, with the total run approaching 29 million fish as fishermen increasingly reposition toward the Naknek-Kvichak District for the next phase of the season.

According to the latest update from KDLG’s Bristol Bay fisheries report, the bay-wide run reached 28.78 million sockeye through July 7, with fishermen harvesting 1.15 million fish on Monday. The cumulative catch now stands at 17.95 million sockeye, while total escapement has climbed to 731,947 fish for the day.

Egegik again led all districts with a daily harvest of 492,817 sockeye, pushing its season catch to 5.94 million fish. The district’s total run has now reached 7.5 million fish, nearing its preseason forecast of 8.9 million.

Read the full article at National Fisherman

Sullivan reintroduces sweeping bill targeting bycatch, seafloor impacts

July 8, 2026 — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) has reintroduced the Bycatch Reduction Act, legislation that would expand federal efforts to reduce bycatch, limit seafloor impacts from trawl gear, improve fisheries monitoring and increase transparency in fishery management.

According to Sullivan’s office, the bill builds on recommendations from the Alaska Salmon Task Force, which was created through legislation he authored and signed into law in 2022.

The proposal would establish new standards and monitoring requirements designed to keep both midwater and bottom trawl nets off the seafloor, require proven salmon excluder devices on pollock vessels, invest in salmon tagging and genetic sampling, expand ecosystem research, and create a new flume tank testing facility to evaluate fishing gear under simulated ocean conditions. The bill also would reauthorize NOAA’s Bycatch Reduction Engineering Program and encourage fishermen to test new gear and technologies aimed at reducing bycatch and habitat impacts.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Alaska’s wild salmon harvest climbs to over 14.5 million fish

July 7, 2026 — On the eve of July 4 and a plethora of holiday barbecues, Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest had already brought in over 14 million wild sockeye salmon, with the big surge coming from Bristol Bay.

Silver Bay Seafoods and Trident Seafoods posted $1.60 a pound for chilled, bled sockeye, 30 cents more than last year’s pre-season price and considered a conservative starting price for the 2026 season, said Janis Harsilla, business manager for the Bristol Bay Fishermen’s Association.

Retail sales were steady, with prices ranging between $16.99 to $18.99 a pound at King Soopers supermarkets, between $23 and $29.99 a pound at some online direct-to-consumer shops, $15.99 a pound at Anchorage Fred Meyer, part of the Kroger chain, and $20.99 a pound at Anchorage Carrs-Safeway supermarkets. The best deal in town was still $14.99 a pound at Costco warehouses in Anchorage for fresh Copper River reds. 

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

Federal judge hears oral arguments in Pebble mine case, decision pending

June 30, 2026 —  A federal court in Anchorage held arguments yesterday over the proposed Pebble mine. The US District Judge Sharon Gleason presiding over the hearing stated she will try to make a final determination in the near term. Litigants are hopeful that this ruling will be the final say in a 16 year long process over the proposed mine’s future.

Plaintiffs of the case, including Pebble Limited Partnership and Northern Dynasty Minerals, argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has limited authority to prevent the development of the mine. Pebble’s attorney argued alongside the State of Alaska, Iliamna Native Limited, and Alaska Peninsula Corporation. Defendants of the case were the Department of Justice on behalf of the EPA, as well as a representative for 23 intervener defendant groups. These groups include several entities from Bristol Bay like Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association, Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, and Commercial Fishermen for Bristol Bay.

Hearings from both the plaintiffs and defendants dove deep into administrative law, presenting arguments over salmon genetics, US waterways, the definition of a fishery, and the difference between the words “likely” and “will” when it comes to having adverse effects.

Daniel Cheyette was present in the courtroom yesterday. He’s the Senior Vice President for legal and land at the Bristol Bay Native Corporation, one of the 23 intervenor defendants. KDLG spoke with Cheyette to learn what occurred in the courtroom, and what a ruling might mean for the Bristol Bay Fishery.

Read the full transcript at KNBA