August 12, 2024 — The state’s biggest commercial pink harvest is in Prince William Sound, where seiners last year netted some 46 million of the fish.
This year, they’ve caught just over 6 million so far. That’s compared to final harvests of more than 20 million in each of the past three even years.
The catch in Kodiak — the state’s third-biggest pink salmon fishery — has been “pretty horrible,” too, skipper Matt Alward said in an interview from his boat, the Challenger. There, the harvest was at just 769,000 fish through last week — down 72% from two years ago.
Alward has also been catching sockeye salmon, but pinks make up the largest portion of his and other seine boats’ hauls.
Some seine fishermen generate additional income by participating in other fisheries; they might stay afloat by catching salmon with different gear like gillnets, by picking up and delivering other boats’ fish, or by crabbing. Alward usually makes extra money fixing nets in the offseason, but he won’t have business this winter if other fishermen don’t have enough cash to pay for his service, he said.