Web posted Sunday, June 10, 2007

Copper River red harvest above average, kings are lagging

By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Cumulative harvests of Copper River sockeye salmon reached 675,672 fish by the June 2 opener, surpassing the 10-year average of 596,705 reds, while the chinook harvest, at 21,969 fish, lagged well behind the 10-year average of 32,068, state officials said.

The commercial harvest from the June 2 opener alone was 107,673 reds and 4,492 kings, said state biologists in Cordova. By the same date in 2006, the commercial fleet had harvested 468,141 sockeye and 14,908 chinooks, biologists said.

Even the famed Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City got into the act over the frenzy that marks the first runs of the Copper River salmon fishery. The online NYC official guide for visitors bragged that the Oyster Bar “will again be the first restaurant to serve this year's first catch” of the omega-3-rich Copper River salmon.

“The Copper River salmon is considered the Rolls Royce of king salmon,” according to executive chef Sandy Ingber, the guide said. “It is known for its high fat content, and has the most brilliant red color of all the kings.” While the guide did not mention prices, it did recommend calling for reservations.

Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle was selling whole kings for $19.99 a pound, with an offer to cut them to customer specifications, including fillets and steaks. “Copper River kings are only available from May to June, so get Ôem while we've got Ôem,” the fishmongers of Pike Place advised customers.

Ed's Kasilof Seafoods offered five pounds of Copper River sockeye fillets for $74.75, while SeaBear, in Anacortes, Wash., offered eight dinner-sized fillets of sockeyes, a total of three pounds, for $74.99, shipped directly from Alaska. Fisherman's Express was offering its king salmon fillets for $29.95 a pound, and Northwest Seafoods offered eight pounds of king salmon fillets for $279.30, 16 pounds for $510.70 or 21 pounds for $629.80.

Others, like Wild Pacific Salmon, offered five pounds of flash-frozen-at-sea king salmon fillets for $89.95, down from the previous price of $129.95. As an added lure, the family-owned firm noted that they donate 10 percent of annual profits to wild salmon habitat conservation and restoration projects in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, but did not specify what part of Alaska the salmon was from.

Some shippers were advising customers to order in advance, with a warning that there was a finite amount of kings available.

A number of Alaskans and summer visitors meanwhile elected to try their own luck, heading for the Kenai Peninsula as the sport fishing season opened, in search of other wild Alaska salmon.

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.

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