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The Bristol Bay sockeye salmon harvest needs to come in at projection for 2015, or declining sockeye prices could squeeze fishermen throughout the region.

The industry has pressure to catch as much as it can. Volume will have to compensate for sinking salmon prices due to the closure of the Russian markets, the strength of the U.S. dollar against the currencies of key export markets like Japan, high volumes of foreign farmed salmon from Norway, and leftover salmon from 2014 still crowding shelves.

Prices for 2015 Bristol Bay sockeye have not yet been released. Prices in 2014 dipped slightly in response to healthy salmon runs. The ex-vessel prices statewide decreased from $1.78 per pound in 2013 to $1.59 per pound in 2014 for sockeye, as well as decreases in price for coho, pink, and chinook salmon. Only chum salmon increased value, from 54 cents to 55 cents per pound.

Read the full story at the Alaska Journal of Commerce >>

Read more about Bristol Bay >>

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Jessica Hathaway is the former editor in chief of National Fisherman.

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