A record catch of pink salmon is flooding fishing boats and fish processors in Southeast Alaska — a boon for the Puget Sound-based fishers and fishing companies that support the run. The Alaska Fish and Game “blue sheet” website showed 185 million pinks so far this season on Tuesday, already surpassing the 2005 record of 161 million, according to press reports.
“The fish are largely being processed by companies based in Washington, using workers, many of whom are from Washington, and buying supplies mostly from Washington,” said Gunnar Knapp, director of the Salmon Market Information Service at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. “The Alaska fisheries occur in Alaska, but in many senses they’re just as much Seattle fisheries as they are Alaska fisheries.”
Although pinks are among the lower-value salmon, bringing fishermen about 40 cents a pound versus $1.60 a pound for sockeye, the high volumes of pink are bringing in big bucks for Puget Sound-based fishers. Source Puget Sound Business Journal. Read on….