An early advance from fishery managers shows that Alaska's 2025 salmon season could be a doozy.

A full report on the 2025 salmon fishery and an overview of the 2024 season should be released any day, but draft projections by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) reveal big increases for all but Chinook salmon.

If the numbers hold true, a statewide salmon catch of nearly 215 million salmon would more than double a 2024 harvest that barely topped 101 million fish.

Here's the projected harvest breakdown by species with comparisons to the 2024 season.

For sockeye salmon, the forecast calls for a catch of nearly 53 million fish, compared to just over 42 million last year.

For pinks, a huge boost to more than 138 million should hit Alaska fishermen's nets this summer. In 2024, the pink salmon catch barely topped 40 million fish.

The coho harvest this year is expected to come in at over 2.35 million silvers compared to 1.7 million last season.

The chum salmon catch is projected at more than 20.8 million fish, up from more than 17.2 million in 2024.

For Chinook salmon, the projected harvest continues to decline with a harvest of just 144,000 expected this year, down from 228,515 taken in 2024.

Alaska's 2025 salmon season officially gets underway on May 22 with catches of sockeyes and Chinook salmon at the Copper River near Cordova.

All stakeholders are hopeful that the upcoming salmon season will be an improvement over last year's disastrous fishery.

Overall, Alaska’s 2024 salmon fishery saw double-digit declines in both catches and value. Just over 101 million salmon were harvested across Alaska, a 56 percent decrease from the more than 232 million fish caught in 2023.

Fishermen’s paydays also took a big hit with the total salmon value at $304 million. That’s down nearly 24 percent from $398 million last year. Those numbers are from the ADF&G preliminary harvest and value figures for the 2024 Alaska Commercial Salmon Fishery. It gets worse. Alaska’s 2024 all-species catch of 101 million fish weighed in at 450 million pounds – the third lowest on record for total fish harvested, and the lowest on record for total pounds harvested since 1985. Alaska’s 2024 salmon fishery saw double-digit declines in both catches and value.

The 101 million salmon that were harvested statewide were a 56 percent decrease from the more than 232 million fish caught in 2023. 

Fishermen’s paydays also took a big hit with the total salmon value at $304 million, down nearly 24 percent from the previous year.

Alaska’s 2024 all-species catch weighed in at 450 million pounds – the lowest on record for total pounds harvested since 1985.