Salmon notes

Here are a few highlights from the ongoing Alaska salmon season.

• The statewide all-species catch now exceeds 120 million fish, the Department of Fish and Game reports. The forecast for the full season is 179 million.

• The pink salmon fishery is really rocking. In Southeast Alaska, indications point to a purse seine harvest of 60-70 million pinks, well above the state's preseason forecast of 54 million.

• In Prince William Sound, seiners bagged 35.6 million pinks through July 31, a record total for the date.

• The Norton Sound chum salmon harvest has again topped 100,000 fish, with another 130,000 taken at Kotzebue. "Hopefully, there will be enough flights in and out of Kotzebue to keep up with the good catches coming in," the department said Friday.

• We're now seeing coho catches pick up around the state. Coho generally are the latest arriving of the five commercially harvested Pacific salmon species.