{"id":23116,"date":"2025-08-29T14:04:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T14:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/?p=23116"},"modified":"2025-08-29T14:04:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T14:04:01","slug":"pink-salmon-harvest-in-southeast-alaska-lapses-by-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/08\/29\/pink-salmon-harvest-in-southeast-alaska-lapses-by-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Pink salmon harvest in southeast Alaska lapses by 20%"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As the 2025 fishing season signs off,&nbsp;Southeast Alaska\u2019s pink salmon sector is on the cliff edge. This is&nbsp;after the Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) recorded a&nbsp;20% harvest reduction from previous targets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Southeast and Prince William Sound fisheries have reported steep haul cuts for companies and individual fishers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among companies is Trident Seafoods, which processes and packs both pink and chum salmon. Its VP Alexis Telfer cited lowkey pinks harvests in the run up to an early September seasonal close, per&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrangellsentinel.com\/stories\/pink-harvest-below-forecast-trident-cuts-back-to-one-shift,24601\"><u>the Wrangell Sentinel<\/u><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Individual fishers are not faring well either as the likely cut in production by 1\/5<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;bodes ill for their returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The total Southeast catch before&nbsp;August 22, 2025&nbsp;clocked 23 million fish, shy of the ADFG\u2019s target of&nbsp;29 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In retrospect, the southeastern coast had its last bumper harvest of the species in 2023 at 48 million units.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Analysts now expect the current production declines in the Southeast and the Sound to substantially impact statewide forecasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On May 13, 2025, the ADFG predicted pinks to lead Alaska\u2019s salmon landings with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/index.cfm?adfg=pressreleases.pr&amp;release=2025_05_13\"><u>138.4 million fish<\/u><\/a>. This is almost three times the forecast for runner-up sockeye at 52.9 million units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back in 2024, actual pink salmon landings were just 40 million units, just behind sockeye at 42.2 million. Only&nbsp;<a href=\"\/Users\/twt.mac\/Desktop\/wps\/x\/ www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2024\/10\/07\/the-alaska-fisheries-battle-in-full-swing\/\">chum salmon\u2002<\/a>performed worse that year after&nbsp;the production value fell&nbsp;to a two-decade low of $25,091.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The huge inter-year harvest discrepancy between pinks harvests owes to 24-month lifecycles, whereby productivity oscillates between \u201codd\u201d and \u201ceven\u201d years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2025 is the latest \u201ceven\u201d production year since 2023, its lowkey show comes as a frustration to fishermen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Time for Farmed Salmon?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Little wonder then that Alaska\u2019s governor Mike Dunleavy has in late August 2025 advocated for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/seawestnews.com\/alaska-rethinks-salmon-farming-ban-as-u-s-pushes-aquaculture-growth\/\"><u>salmon aquaculture<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The subject of farming salmon on land remains taboo in Alaska due to pressure from tough environmentalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Governor Dunleavy however remains adamant and begrudges the import dependence of farmed salmon from Scotland. Indeed, 85% of all seafood in the United States comes from abroad, the bulk of which from aquaculture.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Could a revert to farming fish in the northwestern U.S. state increase landings and stabilize traditionally high&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/insights\/prices\/united-states-of-america\/salmon\/\"><u>salmon prices<\/u><\/a>? The statistics below give an icing to the cake by offering a few takeaways on Alaska\u2019s pinks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-alaska-pink-salmon-statistics\"><strong>Alaska Pink Salmon&nbsp;Statistics&nbsp;<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha)&nbsp;is the most bountiful salmon species in Alaska in the northwest United States. The species accounts for over&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/static\/fishing\/PDFs\/hatcheries\/PSPD.pdf\"><u>50%<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of the state\u2019s annual tonnage each second year. This discrepancy owes to a 2-year lifecycle pattern, which makes one year more productive than the next. At peak season, southeast Alaska swarms with these small salmon which sail into&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareasoutheast.salmon_research_pink\"><u>2,500 streams<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;to spawn. The following landings table, courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) provides a clearer idea of production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Year<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Pinks&nbsp;Landings [count]<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2010<\/td><td>Over 100 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2007<\/td><td>111 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2005<\/td><td>161 million&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2000<\/td><td>111 million<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Before 1993<\/td><td>70 million (100-year average)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Fig:&nbsp;<em>pink salmon production, Alaska, up to 2010<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Where do pink salmon inhabit most in Alaska?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About 1\/4 of all pink salmon landings in Alaska emanate from the Prince William Sound to the south. The ADFG\u2019s data puts the annual landings of the species here at&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/static\/fishing\/PDFs\/hatcheries\/PSPD.pdf\"><u>26%<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;of statewide hauls. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What are key stats of pink salmon production in the Southeast<\/strong>?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite their smallness, pink salmon in the key habitat of the Southeast weigh average&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareasoutheast.salmon_research_pink\"><u>3.5 pounds<\/u><\/a>, apiece. The southeast is also home to 2,500 streams in which these fish spawn each year. In production terms, the area averaged&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.adfg.alaska.gov\/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareasoutheast.salmon_research_pink\"><u>95 million<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;salmon a year in 2013, up from 30 million in 1960. This makes the region, together with the Sound, the main sources of the species. Regarding financial returns, the southeastern Alaska pink salmon fishery brings a maximum $124 million in ex-vessel value annually.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the 2025 fishing season signs off,&nbsp;Southeast Alaska\u2019s pink salmon sector is on the cliff edge. This is&nbsp;after the Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) recorded a&nbsp;20% harvest reduction from previous targets.&nbsp; The Southeast and Prince William Sound fisheries have reported steep haul cuts for companies and individual fishers alike. Among companies is Trident Seafoods,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":21287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v16.3 (Yoast SEO v20.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pink salmon harvest in southeast Alaska lapses by 20% - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.selinawamucii.com\/news\/2025\/08\/29\/pink-salmon-harvest-in-southeast-alaska-lapses-by-20\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pink salmon harvest in southeast Alaska lapses by 20% - Selina Wamucii | Food &amp; Agriculture News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the 2025 fishing season signs off,&nbsp;Southeast Alaska\u2019s pink salmon sector is on the cliff edge. 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This is&nbsp;after the Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) recorded a&nbsp;20% harvest reduction from previous targets.&nbsp; The Southeast and Prince William Sound fisheries have reported steep haul cuts for companies and individual fishers alike. 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