Summer Surge Of Alaskan Salmon Expected

File this fish story under the “can there be too much of a good thing” category.

Alaska is expecting another bumper run of salmon this year — state managers announced a projected total catch of 221 million salmon, 39 percent higher than last year (the numbers for chinook salmon are still being calculated). Regional catch projections for this summer are up across the board, according to Runs and Harvest Projections for Alaska’s 2015 Salmon Fisheries and Review of the 2014 season by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Driving the numbers are the big forecasts for both sockeyes and pinks — a whopping 59-million sockeye salmon catch is set to come out of Alaska this summer, a 33 percent increase and the largest harvest since 1995. Those reds will follow on the heels of last year’s big haul of 44 million sockeye, tons of which remain in freezers.

To read the rest of the story, please go to: Alaska Journal of Commerce