September 2, 2025

Pink salmon harvests falling short in Alaska, Russia

Margaret Bauman

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New Sagaya's seaafood department in Anchorage was advertising five pounds of fresh silver salmon fillets for $219 delivered in Alaska and the Lower 48, and headed and gutted cohos for $7.99 a pound. Margaret Bauman photo.

With Alaska's commercial salmon fishery winding down for the season — sockeye and Chinook landings nearly complete — the focus has shifted to pink and coho salmon.

As of Sept. 1, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported a preliminary commercial catch total of over 178 million fish, including 107.3 million pink, 52 million sockeye, 17 million keta, 1.6 million coho, and 164,000 Chinook salmon.

The Alaska sockeye harvest has reached 98% of the forecast, with Bristol Bay fishermen alone delivering over 41 million reds to processors. The Chinook catch stood at 164,000 fish.

Alaska's pink salmon harvest fell well short of the forecast of 138 million humpies, but coho landings showed an 84% year-over-year increase. Peak landings are expected in early September, according to the global supplier Tradex, which reported the update on its website on Sept. 1.

Keta harvests were at over 17 million fish, or 80% of the forecast. In Prince William Sound, deliveries to processors were up 211% compared to last year, offsetting a 23% shortfall in Southeast Alaska, said Robert Reierson, a Tradex spokesperson.

Meanwhile in Russia, the Far East fisheries delivered over 305,000 metric tons of salmon through late August, down 44% from 2023. That decline was almost entirely driven by pink salmon, Tradex said. Landings of 221,000 metric tons of humpies were 53% below 2023 levels, with Kamchatka—the largest producing region—running over 50% behind the previous odd year.

Russia's coho harvest reached over 4,700 metric tons, about 6% above 2024, and chum production was over 35,000 metric tons, up 27% year-over-year.

Tradex noted that the weak pink salmon harvests in both Alaska and Russia are resulting in a tight global supply and driving firm prices for canned, roe, and frozen headed-and-gutted products into the fall. Coho salmon, meanwhile, is showing strong gains in Alaska and modest improvements in Russia. Chum harvests in both regions are also up, though not enough to offset the shortfall in pinks.

With sockeye and Chinook inventories stable but limited, coho and chum will be the most dynamic factors shaping the remainder of the 2025 season, Tradex said.