Commercial harvesters delivered an estimated 21.7 million Alaska salmon to processors through July 8, with retail prices holding steady even as the sockeye catch is down 29 percent year to date and the smaller keta harvest down 73 percent.
Retail demand remained strong and prices relatively unchanged — from $29.99 a pound at the Pike Place Fish Market and $14.99 a pound at Costco warehouses to $15.95 a pound at Fred Meyer supermarkets. The specialty seafood shop 10th & M Seafoods priced its red salmon fillets at $16.95 a pound, and the online seafood shop FishEx in Anchorage still had portions of Copper River kings for $149.95 a pound. Average orders for walk-in shoppers at 10th & M were one to four pounds of sockeye fillets.
A report released on July 7 by McKinley Research Group for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, this year's single largest harvest day so far was July 4, with an estimated 2.3 million red salmon caught. Still, the catch in Bristol Bay, the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery, was down 40 percent from a year ago.
The latest Port Moller Test Fishery update from the Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute indicated that the Bay is still on track to reach the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's preseason forecast of 33.5 million sockeyes.
The report noted that the early-season keta salmon harvest is down in most regions of Alaska, especially Prince William Sound. The large year-over-year decline in keta harvests is in part due to the comparison with above-average keta harvests in that region a year ago.
Chinook salmon harvest is down 78 percent from 2025, but it is common for in-season Chinook harvest data to be delayed, so this may underestimate Chinook harvest to date, the report said.
White tablecloth restaurants in Anchorage, such as Simon & Seafort's Saloon and Grill, had wild Alaska king salmon entrees for $56 and wild sockeye salmon entrees for $46. At the Crow's Nest, atop the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage, an Alaska king salmon entree ran $42, while at Jens the tab was $32 for grilled wild Alaska king salmon paired with a Pinot Noir glace.
