Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest rebounds after ultra-low harvest last year

Salmon returning from the ocean attempt to jump Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve's Brooks River on July 12, 2018. Alaska's commercial salmon harvest this year was nearly twice as big as last year's small harvest. (Russ Taylor/National Park Service)

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

Alaska commercial fishers caught much more salmon in 2025 than they did last year, but the money they earned was modest, according to the statewide harvest report.

The state commercial salmon haul totaled 194.8 million fish, the 12th largest since 1985, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary annual summary, released this month.

Measured in pounds, the 2025 harvest was about average compared to the last 40 years the agency has been keeping an all-species record, the Fish and Game summary said.

But the amount of money paid to harvesters delivering their fish – known as ex-vessel value – was the 13th lowest since 1975, when adjusted for inflation. This year’s total was $541 million, the department said.    

This year’s totals represent a big improvement from last year, when only 101.2 million salmon were harvested. It was the third lowest haul since 1985 and the ex-vessel value was $304 million, the third lowest since 1975 when adjusted for inflation. In weight, the 2024 harvest totaled 450 million pounds, the lowest on record.

Alaska salmon, particularly Chinook, have been shrinking in size over the past decades, a trend that scientists attribute to a variety of factors, including climate change and ocean conditions.

This year, sockeye salmon accounted for the most value among Alaska’s five salmon species, continuing the long-term pattern in the industry. A little over a quarter of the landed fish were sockeye, but they made up 58% of the value, according to the Department of Fish and Game’s summary.

Pink salmon, the most plentiful and cheapest of the Alaska species, made up 61% of the total fish harvested and 21% of the total ex-value. The pink salmon harvest was about 14% less than expected at the start of the season, the department said.

At the other end of the volume spectrum, the statewide Chinook harvest, which accounted for only 181,892 of the 194.8 million total, was 26% higher than predicted in the preseason forecast, the department said.

Chum salmon accounted for 10% of the harvest and coho accounted for 1%, the department said.

The harvest totals are preliminary and subject to revision as more information is received, the department said.

• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.