Bristol Bay in review

Here's the 2016 Bristol Bay salmon season summary from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

The sockeye harvest was an impressive 37.3 million fish.

Average ex-vessel price was 76 cents per pound for a total sockeye fishery value of $153.2 million.

That's a big jump from the $92.4 million tallied in 2015.

Copper River gets going

Copper River salmon fishermen started the 2016 season with a 12-hour opener Monday, and the catch was fairly modest: 1,300 Chinook and 22,500 sockeye.

The fishery will open again at 7 a.m. Thursday for a 24-hour period, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said in this news release.

Opening day prices to fishermen reportedly were very high, but average sockeye size was very small, according to one media report.

As usual, the first Copper River salmon of the season arrived in Seattle with considerable fanfare.

Alaska Airlines said it planned to rush deliver 80,000 pounds of fish, working with three major processors — Ocean Beauty, Trident and Copper River Seafoods.

You can see photos of the fishy festivities on Twitter using #CopperRiverSalmon.

Pollock climbs, sablefish drops

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has set the 2016 total allowable catch (TAC) for Alaska groundfish.

Here are the TACs for key species and the percent change from 2015.

BERING SEA AND ALEUTIAN ISLANDS

Eastern Bering Sea pollock, 1,340,000 tons, up 2.3 percent
Pacific cod, 251,519 tons, up 0.8 percent
Yellowfin sole, 144,000 tons, down 3.4 percent
Atka mackerel, 55,000 tons, up 0.9 percent
Pacific Ocean perch, 31,900 tons, down 0.4 percent
Sablefish, 2,708 tons, down 13.6 percent

GULF OF ALASKA

Pollock, 257,872 tons, up 29.5 percent
Pacific cod, 71,925 tons, down 4.4 percent
Pacific Ocean perch, 24,437 tons, up 16.3 percent
Sablefish, 9,087 tons, down 13.6 percent

The TACs are subject to U.S. commerce secretary approval.