The May 16 salmon opener at the Copper River near Cordova produced unexpectedly big catches of sockeyes. Fishery managers predicted that the first fishery would produce a harvest of 14,900 sockeye salmon. To their surprise, the take was 41,857 reds, nearly three times what was expected. For Chinook salmon, the first harvest was 1,108 fish. A total of 376 deliveries were made by the Copper River drift gillnet fleet. Prices remain stagnant from last year. The price to fishermen for the season’s…

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Laine Welch has covered the Alaska fish beat for print and radio since 1988. She has also worked “behind the counter” at retail and wholesale seafood companies in Kodiak and Cape Cod. Click here to send her an email.

You can read more from Laine at alaskafish.news. 

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