Saving Seafood

ALASKA: Board of Fish rejects proposals to reduce hatchery pink and chum production

March 27, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries last weekend voted down three proposals to limit hatchery production of pink and chum salmon. Those hatcheries are mostly in Southeast Alaska and Prince William Sound. They’re run by private nonprofits, and the state manages their permits.

There are currently 11 hatcheries permitted to take 1.39 billion pink salmon eggs and 15 hatcheries permitted to take 939 million chum salmon eggs.

The Fairbanks Fish and Game Advisory Committee sought a 25% reduction in egg production per hatchery permit. That’s a proposal that they’ve recommended before.

Board of Fish member Mike Wood of Talkeetna discussed the pros and cons.

“By cutting 25% of hatchery production in areas like Prince William Sound or Southeast, is the squeeze worth the juice with the impacts that it would have on these small boat fishermen, on an industry that we really need to rely on in this state?” he asked.

Read the full article at KCAW

ALASKA: Board of Fish to consider limiting pink and chum hatchery production and changes to trawl gear

March 19, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting Tuesday through Saturday in Anchorage at the Egan Civic and Convention Center to consider changes to statewide finfish fisheries. Board members are appointed by the governor. They consider changes to the state’s fish regulations after listening to opinions from Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and the public.

Three proposals are seeking to limit hatchery production of chum and pink salmon in the state. There are about 30 salmon hatcheries, mostly in Southeast and Prince William Sound. Almost all of them are private nonprofits permitted by the state.

Read the full article at Alaska Public Media

 

ALASKA: Board of Fish to consider limiting pink and chum hatchery production and changes to trawl gear

March 17, 2026 — The Alaska Board of Fisheries is meeting Tuesday through Saturday in Anchorage at the Egan Civic and Convention Center to consider changes to statewide finfish fisheries. Board members are appointed by the governor. They consider changes to the state’s fish regulations after listening to opinions from Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game and the public.

Three proposals are seeking to limit hatchery production of chum and pink salmon in the state. There are about 30 salmon hatcheries, mostly in Southeast and Prince William Sound. Almost all of them are private nonprofits permitted by the state.

Read the full article at KFSK

USDA awards nearly USD 14 million in catfish, pollock, and salmon contracts

December 15, 2025 —  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded USD 13,694,519 (EUR 11,666,316) in contracts for catfish, pollock, and salmon products for use in federal domestic food programs.

Sitka, Alaska, U.S.A.-based Silver Bay Seafoods was the biggest winner of the announcement, securing roughly half of the funding by value. The company was awarded USD 7,077,272 (EUR 6,028,959) to provide more than 88,000 cases of canned pink salmon.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

WASHINGTON: WA pink salmon populations surge in some Puget Sound areas, stagnant in others

September 10, 2025 — The Puget Sound region is anticipating a substantial increase in pink salmon returns for 2025, with forecasts predicting a total of 7.76 million fish. This figure represents a 70% rise from the 10-year cycle average and is expected to be the third-largest return on record. However, some populations, like the Chinook salmon stocks, are expected to limit some salmon fisheries in the upcoming season.

The forecast marks a significant improvement from the 2023 prediction of 3.95 million, with the actual return reaching 7.22 million. The Green and Nisqually rivers are expected to see strong pink salmon returns, further contributing to the region’s positive outlook.

Dig deeper: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has responded to the promising forecast by increasing the daily limit for pink salmon in all inner-marine areas through Sept. 30 to two additional pinks. Marine Area 8–2 remains closed due to the Stillaguamish River’s inability to meet spawning escapement goals.

Read the full article at FOX 13

Alaska’s pink returns cause a low salmon harvest year overall

December 3, 2024 — Alaska’s commercial salmon harvests plummeted this year, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The department’s annual report shows that the statewide harvest of just over 100 million fish was the third lowest on record. And the pounds harvested — 450 million — were the lowest on record. The numbers came with a decline in the fishery’s overall value, too.

The poor harvest results were driven mostly by weak pink salmon returns statewide. Bristol Bay’s annual sockeye run – the most valuable salmon fishery in the state at $128 million – saw another good year. The Southeast region saw lower runs across the board, except for chums. But pink salmon, which are harvested in the millions across the state, drove the overall harvest numbers way down.

Pinks run on a two-year cycle and even years are always lower than odd years. But 2024 saw a dramatic swing. The overall harvest was 42% below projections.

“So that was a bit unexpected,” said Forrest Bowers, the state’s Deputy Director of the Division of Commercial Fisheries. “Even with that awareness of the distinct, even odd year cycle of pink salmon, returns for pink salmon were poor in 2024, even for an even year.”

Read the full story at KFSK

Disaster aid for Alaska crab, salmon fisheries in spending bill

December 23, 2022 — Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo on Dec. 16 announced approval of fishery disaster requests for crab and salmon fisheries in Alaska and Washington over the last several years.

The declarations are for poor or closed Alaska harvests going back to 2020. They cover failures in the crab fisheries for this season and last season, including the recently canceled Bering Sea snow crab and Bristol Bay red crab harvests, as well as the closure of king crab fishing in Norton Sound in 2020 and 2021, the collapse of chum and coho harvests in the Kuskokwim River area, the poor salmon returns in the Chignik area in 2021, and low returns of pink and coho salmon om the Copper River and Prince William Sound areas in 2020.

For Washington, fishery disaster declarations were approved for the 2020 ocean salmon fisheries and the 2019 Columbia River, Willapa Bay, and Puget Sound Salmon fisheries.

“America’s fisheries are a critical part of our national economy and directly impact our local communities when disasters occur,” Raimondo said. “These determinations are a way to assist those fishing communities with financial relief to mitigate impacts, restore fisheries and help prevent future disasters.”

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

ALASKA: Record 74 Million Sockeye Run Forecast for 2022, Low Return for Pinks, as Expected

April 26, 2022 — Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game has released their final “Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2022 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2021 Season” and once again Bristol Bay is outdoing its own record of consistently massive returns.

The forecast for the statewide total salmon return is lower than last years by 800,000 salmon, but it doesn’t detract much from the forecasted run in the Bay.

The 2021 inshore Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run of 67.7 million fish is the largest total run on record — 64% above the 41.3 million average run for the latest 20-year period. It was also the third time on record that the sockeye run exceeded 60.0 million fish. Last year’s 42.0 million harvest was 15% above the 36.4 million fish preseason forecast and the third largest harvest on record. It was also the third time in the last 4 years that landings  exceeded 40.0 million fish.

Read the full story at Seafood News

Alaska salmon landings up 61%, while Yukon River villages see poorest chum return on record

August 9, 2021 — Alaska’s salmon landings have passed the season’s midpoint, and by Aug. 7 the statewide catch had topped 116 million fish. State managers are calling for a projected total 2021 harvest of 190 million salmon, a 61% increase over 2020.

Most of the salmon being caught now are pinks, with Prince William Sound topping 35 million humpies, well over the projection of 25 million.

Pink salmon catches at Kodiak remained sluggish at just over 3 million so far out of a forecast calling for over 22 million.

Southeast was seeing a slight uptick, with pink catches nearing 14 million out of a projected 28 million.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

Alaska fleet sees early surge with harvest of 9.5 million pink salmon

July 21, 2021 — Alaska’s salmon harvest has continued to pick up steam, including the season’s largest weekly harvest.

A bump in pink salmon landings was driven by the Prince William Sound region, where pink hauls are up 21 percent over the pace set in 2019. In other regions of the state, harvests are currently well behind the 2019 pace for pinks, which typically produce big returns in alternating years. The harvest also tends to peak later in the summer.

Read the full story at Seafood Source