After recent years of record or near-record runs and harvests, Bristol Bay sockeye salmon numbers are expected to return to more average levels next year, according to state biologists.
The 2024 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run is expected to total 39 million fish, with a predicted range between about 25 million and 53 million fish, according to a preliminary forecast released Friday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
That is 35% lower than the average over the past 10 years but 6% higher than the long-term average for Bristol Bay, the department said in its forecast.
Bristol Bay is site of the world’s largest sockeye salmon runs, and recent years’ returns have been especially large. Last year’s sockeye salmon return hit a record of 79 million fish, and the 2022 harvest of 60.1 million sockeye salmon was also a record, according to the department. This year’s run totaled 54.5 million, the eighth largest on record, according to the department.
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