Alaska's total salmon catch for 2014 is projected to be down by 47 percent from last year's record 283 million fish. State fishery managers are calling for an all-species harvest of just under 133 million salmon this year.
A pink catch of 95 million drove the record last year, and it is pinks that will bring down the numbers this summer. Pink salmon run in even/odd-year cycles. This year the catch is pegged at about 75 million, a 67 percent decrease from last summer's 226 million humpy haul.
Other projected catches for this year call for a 14 percent increase in sockeyes, to nearly 34 million; 4.4 million coho salmon and nearly 20 million chums. For kings, a catch of 79,000 is projected in areas outside of Southeast and Bristol Bay.
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