Hot pinks!

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game says this year's pink salmon harvest set an all-time record for value at more than $170 million.

Chum and sockeye also did very well. Read all about it here.

A salmon update

The statewide commercial catch of salmon, all species, now stands at 171.4 million fish, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported today.

The tally grew by close to 11 million fish in the past week.

We're in September now, however, so we probably can't expect many more big catches as the season draws to a close.

As Deckboss observed last week, the preseason harvest forecast of 203 million fish is out of reach. Just not enough pink salmon showed up to achieve such a lofty total.

Still, the industry already has surpassed last year's total of 171.2 million salmon.

With strong prices around the state for sockeye and pinks, I'm guessing the 2010 harvest value of $534 million dockside also will be topped.

Coming up short on salmon

The statewide commercial salmon catch, all species, now stands at about 161 million fish, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports.

That's a big total. But clearly, with September just around the corner, we won't reach the preseason forecast of 203 million.

One reason appears to be a shortfall of pink salmon, particularly in Prince William Sound. Returns to Prince William Sound Aquaculture Corp. hatcheries have been weaker than expected.

Here are a few salmon highlights from around the state:

• In Southeast, purse seiners have bagged 51.2 million pinks, 2.4 million chums, 500,000 sockeye and 300,000 coho. "From this year's combination of good returns, above average pink salmon weights and strong prices, the ex-vessel value of the purse seine fishery this season has now reached $100 million," Fish and Game says.

• Upper Cook Inlet's harvest of 5.1 million sockeye ranks as the area's fifth largest ever.

• Kodiak fishermen have harvested 15.5 million pink salmon, fewer than expected for this date.

Halfway there on salmon

Alaska's commercial salmon catch now exceeds 103 million fish.

We'll need 100 million more to hit the state's preseason forecast of 203 million.

Here are a few news nuggets, culled from the Department of Fish and Game's latest weekly summary:

• Southeast power trollers have caught just under 392,000 coho since July 1. The average price is $1.33 per pound, but the fish are said to be relatively small at an average of 5.3 pounds.

• Southeast purse seiners have bagged 28.1 million pink salmon so far, nearly all from northern districts. At an average weight of 3.7 pounds, and an average price of 41 cents a pound, the pinks are worth about $1.50 each. Effort thus far is 262 boats, just above the recent 10-year average of 259 boats.

• The Upper Cook Inlet sockeye catch has topped 5 million fish, one of the best tallies in decades to this point in the season. Fishing is beginning to wind down.

• The Kodiak pink salmon harvest remains well below projection at 3.9 million fish.

• Norton Sound and Kotzebue each have produced more than 100,000 chum salmon thus far.

85 million and counting

The statewide commercial salmon harvest, all species, currently tallies about 85 million fish.

It's now up to the pink salmon whether we make the forecast of 203 million fish for the season.

Speaking of pinks, seiners in northern Southeast have scored record catches, while southern harvests are well below average, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports. Some 20 million pinks taken overall in Southeast so far.

In Kodiak, the pink salmon run is believed to be either weak or late, the department says. Only 1.3 million caught so far, well below expectations.

Elsewhere, in Upper Cook Inlet, fishermen of all descriptions have feasted on sockeye, with the total run headed for 9 million fish rather than the 6.4 million forecast.

But remember, this is Upper Cook Inlet, so anger and discontent abound, right along with the fish. Here's an entertaining cut from Fish and Game's weekly commercial salmon summary:

This past week a large protest was held in the parking lot of the ADF&G office in Soldotna. The protesters were mostly sportfishing guides who were unhappy about the no-bait restriction being implemented in the Kenai River by Sport Fish Division in response to a weak Chinook salmon run. These folks were specifically miffed by the fact that a mandatory restriction to the commercial set gillnet fishery was not in the management plan when the in-river fishery was restricted. The management plan only speaks to a commercial closure when the in-river sport fishery closes. A representative from the protest group met with department staff so they could have their issues heard. In response to the weak Chinook salmon run, the setnets on the east side of Cook Inlet have been fished much less aggressively than they ordinarily would have been in light of such a strong sockeye salmon run. The result will be that the escapement goal for sockeye salmon in the Kenai River will be exceeded, perhaps by a half-million fish or more.

Reds retreat, but pinks are coming

Here are some key stats as we enter the middle innings of the 2011 commercial salmon season.

• The total catch, all species, stands at just over 53 million fish, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported today. That's about a quarter of the way toward the season forecast of 203 million.

• The Bristol Bay sockeye catch is coming up well short of forecast. The harvest through Thursday stood at 20.4 million reds, with 8.5 million taken in the Naknek-Kvichak District. The run took a nosedive in recent days, and now fishermen are pulling their boats and hopping planes for home. The state had predicted a catch of 28.5 million sockeye. Deckboss hasn't heard anything yet about prices.

• Pink salmon catches are starting to come on. The statewide tally is 16.7 million pinks, with Prince William Sound accounting for most of them. Still a long way to go, obviously, to reach the forecast of 133.5 million.

• Chum salmon catches are mixed, with 5.1 million taken so far statewide on a forecast of 19.5 million. Chum runs are ranging from horrible at the Hidden Falls Hatchery near Sitka to excellent way up in Norton Sound.