April 30, 2020

Alaska is forecast to harvest a substantially smaller number of salmon this year than in 2019, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) said.

This year's harvest is expected at 132.7 million salmon, compared with last year's 207.9 million.

Of last year's harvest, over half was composed of pink salmon (128.6 million fish), followed by sockeye salmon (55.5 million fish), chum salmon (19.6 million), coho salmon (3.9 million) and Chinook (287,000).

The majority of the 2019 pink salmon harvest occurred in the Westward Region, and Bristol Bay continued to lead sockeye salmon harvests.

ADF&G said in its recently released report titled "Run Forecasts and Harvest Projections for 2020 Alaska Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2019 Season", that the projected 2020 commercial harvests include 60.6 million pink salmon, which is 68 million fewer than last year; 48.1 million sockeye salmon, 7.4 million fewer; 19.5 million chum salmon, 100,000 fewer; 4.2 million coho salmon, 300,000 higher; and 320,000 Chinook salmon.