The Chinook fishery kicked off Alaska’s Summer Salmon season in May with the Annual “First of the Season” Copper River Kings & Sockeyes.

The pace however, of this year’s Chinook Salmon harvest in Alaska seems to be lagging behind about 65 percent of the same time last year.

The peak of the Chinook harvest in Alaska should happen over the first half of July.

This year’s Chinook Salmon Forecast for Alaska is one of the lowest in recent years - even if all of the 242,000 fish forecasted is harvested, this would equate to about 24 percent less production than last year.



About 100,000 of those Alaskan Chinook are subject to litigation (pending an appeal decision by June 23) as a federal court order closed the 2023 Southeast Chinook Troll Fishery as part of a southern resident killer whale protection lawsuit.

One ramification of this would be that the Troll Fishery will instead focus on Chums and Coho’s resulting in more Troll Chum and Coho, thereby potentially keeping them at a lower cost.

On the flip side, Washington, Oregon, and California combined harvested almost 40 percent more Chinook Salmon last year than its previous 5-year average, equating to about double of what Alaska harvested last year.

In British Columbia, Canada only harvested about 100,000 Chinook Salmon last year and we would expect somewhere around the same or less this year as the state of B.C. Wild Salmon continue to be in dire straits.

Globally, 6,300 metric tonnes - 14 million lbs - or 1.14 million Chinook were harvested last year - 19 percent higher than the previous 5-year average.

Our recommendation is to start talking to your Tradex Foods Representative about your Summer Salmon Program.



There are mixed signals for pricing due to the amount of all Salmon remaining in freezers globally.

Only time will reveal how the market will behave for all salmon species.

Our pulse is that all species will see strong pricing coming out of the gates, then weaken quickly.

Stay tuned for more upcoming Salmon updates by subscribing to the 3MMI.



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