Here's our Alaska Salmon Season Buyer's Guide

5 Species of Alaska Salmon

Alaska Salmon Fishing Season

Alaska's five salmon species are mainly harvested from May to September, except for wild Alaska King Salmon, which is harvested almost year-round.

Harvesters work with researchers and managers to develop sustainable methods for harvesting salmon in Alaska, including allocation, regulations, gear types, fishing areas, and times.

Harvest Methods

Gillnetting use nets that suspend from the floating corks at the surface that form a wall of mesh in the water that can stretch a distance anywhere from 900-1,800 feet and extend variable depths depending on region and regulation.

Swimming salmon are caught in the net by their gills, hence the term "gillnetting".

Species Harvested:

Sockeye, Keta, Coho, King and Pink

Troll fishing: Trollers are small fishing vessels operated by one or two people who fish with artificial lures or baited hooks attached to long lines.

Generally, trollers fish offshore and intercept salmon on the outer coast as they start their migration through inland waters.

Troll-caught salmon are known for quality over quantity.

Species Harvested:

King, Coho and Keta

Seiners use a net that is set in a circle to form a "purse" that closes at the bottom.

Synthetic corks keep the net floating at the surface and a skiff pulls one end of the net around an area of schooling salmon to enclose them in the purse.

Species Harvested:

Pink, Keta and Sockeye

Harvest Areas

Alaska's harvesting areas support some of the world's most productive fisheries in the world.

Alaska Salmon Forecast & Harvest

Even year Alaska fisheries are typically less abundant than odd-years and this is primarily due to less Pink Salmon harvested during even-years.

3MMI - 2024 Alaska Summer Salmon Forecast

Skin Color Variations

Most Salmon can be segmented into

3 skin color variations that is -

Bright, Semi-Bright and Dark.

Bright skin will typically be a Salmon that is less mature

and in the ocean stage of its life cycle.

Dark skin will typically be a Salmon that is fully mature and returning to freshwater for spawning.

BRIGHT SKIN, SEMI SRIGHT SKIN, DARK SKIN CHART

Trim Guide

When processing Salmon into fillets there are 5 Trims -

Trim A to Trim E.

Meat Color Guide

Meat color (or flesh) is also a life stage indicator

ranging from dark to light and

with marketplace terminology from

“Good Meat Color” (or GMC), to “Pale Meat”,

to number references such as

C2 for Coho, or P3 for Pink.

**Please do not use this meat color guide reference as colors will display slightly differently from monitor/device screens. Please contact Tradex Foods if you would like physical meat color cards.

King Salmon is the exception here as this fish also comes in a highly sought after ivory/marble meat color from what is known as White Kings.