Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska’s celebrated Copper River salmon fishery opened Thursday, with hefty prices reported for the first of the prized fish to hit the market.
Processors were reported paying $5.25 to $5.75 a pound for king salmon and $3 a pound for the more abundant red salmon. Last year on opening day, processors paid up to $4.60 a pound for kings and $2.75 for reds, according to the Copper River Salmon Producers Association, a fishermen’s union.
The high prices are sure to cost consumers who crave the prized Copper River fish. In past years, cuts have retailed for $20 a pound or more.
Market euphoria builds annually around Alaska’s first major salmon run of the season. This year, that was coupled with an unusually short fishing period allotted the 500-boat fleet.
State fishery managers allowed fishermen to wet their nets for only six hours, compared with 12 or 24 hours in past years. King salmon appeared to be scarce, though a surprising number of red salmon were landed for such a short period, fishermen said.
Smaller first-day supply plus competition among buyers whipped up prices, said Terry Gardiner, president of NorQuest Seafoods Inc., a Seattle-based packer and one of the major Copper River buyers.
"We’ve never had such a short opener at the start," he said.
NorQuest projected a catch of about 4,500 king salmon and 66,000 reds.
That compares with 6,141 kings and 72,274 reds landed on opening day last year, when fishermen had a 12-hour period, reported the state Department of Fish and Game.
High dock prices likely will drop sharply within a couple of weeks as other commercial fisheries begin around the Alaska coast.
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