Despite Smaller Harvest, Southeast Alaska Salmon Financial Haul Much Bigger

Here’s more on the numbers from KTOO Public Media:

Commercial fisherman in Southeast hauled in just over 29 million fish across the five salmon species during the 2022 season — 17.5 million pink salmon, 9.3 million chum, 1.2 million coho, 1.1 million sockeye and 257,000 king salmon.

Even though the total harvest was half the size of last year’s 58 million catch, the total value at the docks for Southeast increased by $12 million this year, to $144 million. That rise in value came primarily because the price per pound of chum salmon increased by half this year compared to last year, at a region-wide average of $1.18 per pound.

Sockeye also had an 18 cent increase per pound this year. The other three species had lower prices than in 2021.