Two big fish stories have been spawned so far by the 2016 Alaska salmon season: 1) sockeyes save the day; and 2) colossal pinks.
A larger than expected sockeye salmon catch that has topped 50 million will salvage a summer that has seen lackluster catches of other salmon species, notably, those hard to predict pinks.
“I think if you’re a Bristol Bay fisherman, you’re probably pretty happy, and if you fished anywhere else in the state, it probably hasn’t been a great season for you,” said Forrest Bowers, deputy director of commercial fisheries at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The Alaska salmon catch so far of 88 million fish is little more than half way to the preseason forecast of 161 million salmon, down 40 percent from the 2015 harvest.
Pink salmon, the “bread and butter” fish for the fleet, were projected to come up short this year, and so they have in the big three producing areas: Southeast, Prince William Sound and Kodiak.
“We really haven’t seen any bright spots in terms of pink salmon across the state,” Bowers said.
The Panhandle fleet has taken less than 10 million pink salmon so far on a forecast of 34 million.
