Commercial harvesters in the famed Copper River salmon fishery boosted their catch by 190,000 reds, 1,400 kings and 2,300 chums in the second 12-hour opener May 20, about double that of the inclement weather endured for the May 16 opener.
Choppy waters, with winds in some areas of the fishery in excess of 40 knots, and eight-foot waves compelled some fishermen to sit out the first opener, which had a harvest of 82,000 sockeye, 700 Chinook and 1,200 chum salmon, said biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game at Cordova.
Retail prices on the first opener were $16.95 a pound for whole headed and gutted sockeye and $22.95 a pound for whole headed and gutted kings at 10th and M Seafoods in Anchorage, and $21.95 for sockeye fillets and $35.95 for king fillets.
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