Puget Sound Port Fleet Back After Stellar Alaska Salmon Season

The first time I saw Gig Harbor, Washington, a port town just across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge from the major port city of Tacoma, it made want to move to the Seattle area. I was living and working in Arkansas and myself and a college buddy flew to Seattle to see our alma mater, Fresno State, play a college football game at the University of Washington. Another friend of ours from Fresno State worked in Tacoma and lived with his family in Gig Harbor, and after the game we stopped for some food and drinks at a pub in the quaint waterfront area. It was really enjoyable.

Years later I do live and work in the Seattle area, and I was happy to see the good news about Gig Harbor in this Tacoma News-Tribune piece about the Alaska fishing fleet there. Here’s a snippet:

“This has been our best season in six years,” said Matt Munkres, 39, who skippers the Gig Harbor-based Julien, a 54-foot purse seiner. “And we got good prices, so all in all, it was pretty good.”

Alaska’s salmon harvest “has blown past the forecast,” this year, reported the Anchorage Daily News, and by late August “topped 201 million fish, well above the 190 million projected at the start of the season.”

In the Southeast Alaska fishery, where most of the Gig Harbor purse seiners fish, the net of 42.8 million pink salmon was the 14th highest since statehood, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. About 207 boats shared the catch.

Read more here: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/community/gateway/g-news/article254270273.html#storylink=cpy

Good for Gig Harbor.