Icicle Seafoods was the first buyer at Bristol Bay to post base prices for sockeye at $1.35 a pound, up from the average $1.26 last year, and $0.40 for chums, an increase of 4 cents.

KDLG in Dillingham reported that Icicle also is paying 15-cent bonuses for iced or RSW fish for both drift and setnetters, plus 8 cents more for chilled/bled, and a 5-cent premium for floated fish. All told, that’s $1.63 per pound for sockeyes at Bristol Bay.

Alaska General Seafoods, North Pacific Seafoods and Peter Pan Seafoods at Bristol Bay also have posted a sockeye base of $1.35.

Kodiak base prices have taken a dip with reports of $1.45 for sockeyes, $0.27 for pinks and $0.25 for chums. That compares to last year's averages of $1.56, $0.39 and $0.51.

At Cook Inlet, sockeye prices were reported at $1.70, down from $2.27.

Southeast Alaska trollers were averaging $5.13 a pound for kings, $1.56 for silvers and $0.61 for chums, according to fish tickets. Prices for seine and gillnet salmon were reported at $0.55 for chums, down from $0.90; sockeyes at $1.90, a drop of six cents, and $0.30 for pinks, down from $0.38 per pound on average last year.

At Norton Sound, chum prices at $0.50 were down from $0.80, and coho at $1.40 was the same as last year.

Average Alaska salmon prices per pound across all regions (not including bonuses) for 2018 were:

King - $5.98

Sockeye - $1.33

Silver - $1.34

Chum - $0.78

Pink - $0.45

Laine Welch is an independent Kodiak, Alaska-based fisheries journalist. Click here to send her an email.

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