Bristol Bay's incredible staying power

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has released its summary of the 2025 Bristol Bay salmon season, and the numbers are once again impressive.

• This is the 11th year in a row that the total inshore sockeye run exceeded 50 million fish.

• The commercial harvest of 41.2 million sockeye was 18 percent above the preseason forecast.

• Sockeye remained on the small side this season, averaging 5.05 pounds. But that's a big improvement over last season's 4.53 pounds, the smallest average weight on record.

• The sockeye paid a preliminary average ex-vessel price of $1.03 a pound for a total sockeye fishery value of $214.3 million. The average price last year was 89 cents a pound.