Bristol Bay's smaller sockeye run pays 21 percent above average

Bristol Bay's catch across all salmon species was worth $264.0 million, 21 percent above the 20-year average of $207.8 million, from a below-average sockeye harvest. Sockeye sold for $1.72 a pound, against $1.03 in 2025. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game laid out the figures in its revised 2026 Bristol Bay Salmon Season Summary, issued Tuesday. All figures are preliminary.

Egegik and Ugashik fishermen caught more sockeye than their 20-year averages, while the Togiak River missed its spawning goal and Nushagak kings stayed far below theirs.

The total run returning to the bay was 45.7 million sockeye. That is 8 percent below the 20-year average and the first run under 50 million since 2014. It still beat the preseason forecast of 44.1 million by 4 percent. The fleet harvested 30.1 million sockeye. That harvest was 7 percent below the preseason forecast of 32.3 million and 14 percent below the 20-year average of 34.9 million. About 15.6 million sockeye made it upriver to spawn.

Sockeye alone made up $260.2 million of the total. By comparison, Bristol Bay's 2025 season harvested 41.2 million sockeye and brought a preliminary exvessel value, what processors paid fishermen at the dock, of $215.3 million. "Prices may not include incentives for icing, bleeding, floating, or production bonuses," the department said.

Egegik harvested 9.2 million sockeye and Ugashik 5.4 million. Egegik's run beat forecast by 26 percent and Ugashik's by 37 percent. Naknek-Kvichak caught 6.1 million against an average of 10.7 million. The Nushagak took 9.1 million, below its 10.8 million average. Chum harvest baywide was 457,086 fish, 53 percent below average, and the Nushagak chum index of 199,809 fell just short of its 200,000 goal. The Nushagak run fell 16 percent short of forecast. The coho harvest ran 40 percent below its 20-year average.

The Togiak run came in 43 percent under forecast. Its escapement, the fish counted upriver past the fishery, was 119,298, short of the 120,000 lower bound and the only system to miss. The Togiak harvest of 180,574 was less than a third of its 20-year average of 613,466.

Only 36,339 Nushagak kings were counted at the Portage Creek sonar, well short of the river's goals. "In 2026 the department managed the Nushagak district fishery more conservatively than required by the plan to conserve Chinook salmon," the summary said. The Nushagak escapement goal range is 55,000 to 120,000 kings.

The baywide king harvest of 10,734 was the highest since 2019, but the department said the increase is likely due at least partly to two changes. The Board of Fisheries barred releasing kings in the Nushagak commercial fishery this year. The department also began counting kings from processor production reports as well as fish tickets, sales receipts for delivered fish, because of "chronic underreporting." It said comparing this year's harvest to history "is not appropriate."

The summary reflects the department's figures only. It carries no comment from fishermen, processors, the Board of Fisheries, or Togiak and Nushagak communities and tribes. The department's formal sockeye forecast for 2027 is due in November. A preliminary forecast puts next summer's run at 44.2 million.