Press Release Says, Alaska Statewide Salmon Forecast for 2010

Posted on: February 26th, 2010 | Author: General Manager | Filed under: Fisheries News

(Juneau) – The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announces that the statewide commercial salmon harvest in 2010 is projected to total 138 million salmon of all species. This is a decrease compared to 2009, with most of the decrease expected to come from lower pink salmon catches. Overall, Chinook and sockeye salmon harvests are expected to be higher than in 2009, while the coho and chum salmon harvests are expected to be similar to the actual harvests taken in 2009. This forecast would represent the 19thlargest harvest since 1960, if achieved.

The forecasted harvests for individual species in 2010 are 515,000 Chinook salmon, 45.8 million sockeye salmon, 4.4 million coho salmon, 69.1 million pink salmon, and 18.0 million chum salmon.  The 2010 sockeye salmon harvest of 45.8 million salmon would be the ninth largest sockeye salmon harvest since 1960; and the 2010 chum salmon harvest of 17.9 million fish would be the tenth largest chum salmon harvest since 1960.  The 2009 coho salmon harvest of 4.4 million salmon matches the most recent ten-year average of 4.4 million coho salmon.

The estimated 2010 Chinook salmon harvest of 515,000 salmon would mark an increase over the 2009 harvest of 359,000 salmon.

These forecasts are based on quantitative projections of next year’s salmon run using information on previous spawning levels, smolt outmigrations, returns of sibling age classes, and recent survival rates observed for hatchery releases.

Look for inseason harvest information, postseason statistics, and other information about salmon in Alaska on the World Wide Web at http:///www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/ <http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/> .

Jennifer Yuhas

Legislative & Communications Director,
Alaska Department of Fish & Game