Copper River salmon fishery opened today – no mention by Alaska media
Not a mention could be found today by any Alaska media celebrating the official start of Alaska’s 2024 salmon fishery at the Copper River near Cordova.
A Google search showed only Intrafish, headquartered in Norway, highlighted the season opener with a headline that reads “Alaska salmon season LIVE: Iconic Copper River salmon fishery opens today!”
Intrafish editor, Drew Cherry, writes: Welcome to our live coverage of the 2024 Alaska salmon season. We’ll be following the most important fisheries, from Copper River to Bristol Bay to Prince William Sound, and giving you updates on catches, prices and other key events.”
The Copper River fishery opened at 7am today for 12 hours. At 10am, Cherry added:
“Buyers around the United States are eagerly awaiting the first fresh wild salmon of the Alaska season and the fish are trickling in.
Cordova Fisherman Thea Thomas told IntraFish she is seeing sockeye at around 5.5 pounds rolling in that “seem a little bigger than last year.”
Bill Webber, who is also fishing for Copper River salmon, told IntraFish there is till some ice flowing out of the Copper River with cold water conditions.
Washington state-based specialty retailer Earth & Ocean posted on Instagram it’s hoping to get its first salmon shipment on Friday.”
Forecast calls for a strong sockeye harvest; uncertain number for kings
The 2024 commercial harvest forecasts for the Copper River District are 1.30 million sockeye salmon, which is 46% above the 10-year average of 893,000 fish. Fishery managers said that for Chinook salmon conservation, the ‘inside closure area’, will be closed during early season fishing periods and may be expanded early in the season to include waters inside the barrier islands east of Coffee Creek.
The Copper River Chinook salmon total run forecast (47,000 fish) is 2% below the 10-year average of 48,000 fish.
