Copper River Salmon Run Continues to Lag

Dan Bross, KUAC - Fairbanks Seafood June 11, 2020

The Copper River sockeye salmon run continues to lag. Citing Monday’s numbers, State upper river management biologist Mark Sommerville says the sonar count and fishing both remain sub-par.

“The sonar count now we got a cumulative count now of 164,000 the objective for this date was 268,000, so we are still running about 100,000 short at the sonar. The first personal-use opener was about as expected — pretty slow for sockeye fishing. Most people we talked to were in the five to 15-fish range,” said Sommerville.

That’s well below the 25-sockeye season limit. Sommerville says most people were getting their limit of one king salmon. The weak return resulted in closure of Monday’s scheduled commercial opening on the Copper River Delta, where fishing has also been poor.  

To read the rest of the story, please go to: KUAC – Fairbanks

Related Articles

Seafood

Alaska Air Cargo Brings the Season’s First Wild Copper River Salmon to Seattle

Alaska Airlines Seafood May 21, 2019

“This year, we are flying in the first catch of coveted Copper River salmon on the largest flying salmon in the world – the Alaska Airlines Salmon-Thirty-Salmon,” said Jason Berry, managing director at Alaska Air Cargo. “Supporting the Alaskaseafood industry has been a core part of the airline’s history. We applaud the state of Alaska and our seafood partners for setting the standard for sustainable fishing practices, which allows salmon lovers to enjoy some of the best fish in the world.” …