October 2023

SALMON SEASON WRAPUP

Alaska’s huge salmon harvest hits market headwinds, while California suffers a shutdown

by WESLEY LOY and DANIEL MINTZ

Fisheries managers closed the commercial salmon season off California for the first time since 2009 due to weak Chinook stocks. CDFW photo

Here’s a look at how Pacific salmon fisheries unfolded in 2023.

ALASKA

It was a fine year for Alaska salmon fisheries – and a frustrating one, as well.

The statewide catch stood at nearly 224 million fish as of press time, with fishing all but complete. The harvest was well above the state’s preseason forecast of about 189.5 million fish.

It’s the 10th time Alaska’s annual commercial salmon harvest has exceeded 200 million fish.

Sockeye salmon, the state’s most valuable salmon species, tallied a catch of more than 50.2 million, slightly over forecast.

Pink salmon, the most numerous species, totaled nearly 149 million fish, well above the 122 million forecast. Pink salmon returns tend to be larger during odd years, and this year’s result was more than twice the 2022 harvest.

Chum salmon totaled about 22.5 million fish, much better than the 16 million forecast.

So, in terms of volume, Alaska enjoyed a strong salmon season.

On price, however, it was a disappointing year. Bristol Bay sockeye fishermen went home grumbling after a collapse in ex-vessel prices, and processors around the state reportedly reduced prices and stopped buying fish early, due to an apparent glutted salmon market.

Trident Seafoods, in an Aug. 5 letter to its fleet, said the spring brought “a sharp decrease in wholesale prices across all species,” and that Bristol Bay served as confirmation of “this unprecedented decline.” The company spoke of a collapsed chum market, and said Russia, with a huge pink salmon harvest, had “shown a willingness to offload inventory at very low prices in part to fund the war in Ukraine.”

“We haven’t seen a collapse in value like this since the 1990s when pinks went well under 10 cents a pound,” said the Trident letter, signed by company CEO Joe Bundrant.

Here are notes from key fishing regions around the state.

Southeast Alaska: The regional pink salmon harvest totaled 48 million fish, more than double the forecast, and the chum harvest totaled nearly 15 million, surging well past the 9.8 million forecast.

The best fishing might have come in the courts, where a key ruling in June allowed the Southeast Alaska summer troll Chinook fishery to proceed. Environmental activists are pressing a lawsuit to shut down the fishery as a threat to orcas dependent on Chinook for food.

Prince William Sound: The famed Copper River drift gillnet fishery took about 850,000 sockeye – not great, not terrible.

The pink salmon harvest tallied nearly 56 million fish.

Upper Cook Inlet: The sockeye catch totaled nearly 1.6 million sockeye.

The eastside setnet fishery, which targets sockeye, was closed for the season due to concerns about potential bycatch of weak Kenai River Chinook salmon stocks.

Kodiak: The region had 24.4 million pink salmon and 2.3 million sockeye.

Chignik: The sockeye catch topped 1 million fish, and the pink salmon catch topped 2 million.

Alaska Peninsula: The South Peninsula had 1.7 million sockeye and 15.4 million pinks.

Bristol Bay: The region enjoyed another super catch of 40.6 million sockeye.

But many fishermen went home mad. The average base ex-vessel price was 52 cents per pound, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported. That was less than half the $1.15 processors paid in 2022.

Dozens of angry fishermen formed a protest flotilla in the Naknek River entrance on July 20.

What caused the price drop?

It appeared inventory carryover from last year’s record harvest of more than 60 million Bristol Bay sockeye sank prices this season.

Western Alaska: Yukon River salmon runs remained too poor for commercial fisheries. The Kotzebue area produced 141,000 chum salmon.

BRITISH COLUMBIA

The province’s salmon situation remains dire.

At the Fraser River, in some years a major sockeye producer, the commercial catch in both Canadian and U.S. was zero, according to the final weekly reported dated Sept. 15 from the Pacific Salmon Commission Fraser River Panel.

The Fraser did, however, see an unexpectedly large pink salmon run, which the panel put at 15 million. Some fishing openers were allowed, but with nonretention of sockeye.

Commercial fishermen were catching Skeena River and Somass River sockeye, but prices for sales outside of Canada reportedly were depressed. Skeena pink salmon numbers were said to be well above average.

Extreme drought conditions this year in British Columbia hammered salmon habitat, and this doesn’t bode well for future runs.

WASHINGTON, OREGON, CALIFORNIA

With a total season closure in California and most of the season closed in Oregon, Washington state was the place to be in this year’s West Coast ocean salmon season.

“This season has been excellent, with sustained Chinook catch rates and high vessel participation,” said Kyle Van de Graaf, a fishery biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Vessel participation spiked in the July through September season segment, which de Graaf said was due at least in part to California’s closure and Oregon’s truncated season, which was closed south of Cape Falcon save for a September through October open window from Cape Falcon to Humbug Mountain.

From the start of the summer season in June, Washington and the Oregon area north of Cape Falcon saw “highly productive Chinook fishing” coastwide.

The high vessel participation and catch rate triggered weekly landing limits, but the summer season catch quota was nevertheless reached by late July.

The majority of a total season quota of 39,000 Chinook was for the spring season, with the summer season’s cap set at 13,000 fish.

Oregon’s one-month season south of Cape Falcon meant severely downscaled total catches and catch values.

As of Sept. 20 this year, the Newport area’s total salmon catch amounted to about 2,200 fish valued at about $60,000, most of it coho. Last year, the area’s total salmon landings topped 22,000, with a total value of about $2 million, most of it Chinook.

But Oregon had a strong catch rate in the Columbia River area north of Cape Falcon, with 2,804 fish landed at a total value of $171,225, the majority of it Chinook, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. That surpasses last year’s total value of about $148,000.

The California and Oregon closures were due to severely reduced ocean abundance forecasts for California’s Sacramento and Klamath fall-run Chinook salmon stocks. They shape much of the commercial fishing seasons for both California and Oregon.

The low returns follow drought conditions seen three years ago, which decimated eggs and impacted survival of hatchlings.

With the shutdowns, legislative representatives were rallying for disaster declarations. If they’re approved, relief funding will compensate for economic losses.

The future looks better, as this year’s winter to spring rains were ample, and significant population rebounds are predicted three years from now.

And the historic Klamath River dam removal project has begun, with one of four dams already gone and the rest expected to be taken out the end of 2024. Restoring the river’s flows and opening salmon access to hundreds of miles of habitat is expected be a game changer for Klamath Chinook.

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