There’s plenty of fish in the sea and at Alaska processors, but discrepancies, soft prices, and small fish shadow the big numbers while fishermen switch to crab gear for the fall.

Statewide, the combined commercial salmon harvest has exceeded the harvest projections and all but one harvest since 1994, with fish still trickling in at the tail end of the season.

Bristol Bay sockeye led in value with an immense but oddly timed run of sub-average-sized fish, while a bumper pink salmon harvest in the Prince William Sound matched exactly an inexplicable lag of Southeast pink salmon runs. Meanwhile, the international salmon market looks hostile to exports as the U.S. dollar’s relative strength competes with foreign import bans and farmed fish to create downward pressure for Alaska processors.

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