The first million

As of this posting, Alaska's commercial salmon catch stands at 1.1 million fish.

The season is just getting started, and the state is forecasting a total harvest of 125.5 million salmon once the fishing year is done.

You can track the catch on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Blue Sheet.

Salmon notes

Here are observations from the young salmon season so far.

• Action is picking up across Alaska, with anticipation building for the big Bristol Bay fishery. The statewide harvest just clicked over 1 million salmon, with most coming from the Prince William Sound region including the Copper River. You can track the catch on the Blue Sheet.

• Speaking of the Copper River, the sockeye catch stands at about 274,000 fish, which lags the 20-year average for this date of 595,000. Measures to conserve the weak Chinook run have constrained the sockeye fishery. But fishermen are still getting openers, with the Copper River District opening today for a 12-hour driftnet fishing period.

Bits and pieces

• The new salmon season is gaining steam, and you can track the catch on the Blue Sheet. We just clicked over 1 million fish statewide.

• The Alaska Department of Fish and Game today announced the Aleutian Islands golden king crab quotas and season dates.

• Pacific Seafood has been hit with a big pollution penalty in Washington state.

• Coastal states reportedly have failed to agree on a protocol for commercial fishing in the central Arctic Ocean.

• A new United Nations report says that in 2022, production of animal species from aquaculture surpassed for the first time that from capture fisheries.