The high prices, second only to those of first-run Copper River kings, do not deter those who like it and keep coming back year after year for this succulent fish, processors say.

Fresh Yukon king salmon fillets were commanding $22.95 a pound in late June on The Fishermen's Express Web site. An Anchorage retailer was selling frozen Yukon King salmon fillets for $14.95 a pound.

Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said that through June 29, nearly 26,000 Yukon kings had been harvested commercially, with fishermen being paid up to $3.75 a pound. The harvest is critical to the economy of the Lower Yukon, where commercial fisheries provide the bulk of employment.

The second pulse of king salmon into the Lower Yukon was one of the strongest pulses in recent years, but the overall run is still below the 1989-2005 average, officials said.

Harvesters of Yukon River kings have in recent years faced the duel problem of being a relative unknown, compared to the heavily marketed Copper River kings and sockeyes, and the uncertainty of when their commercial run will open.

Still, domestic, Japanese and growing European markets are encouraging to buyers along the lower Yukon River, where commercial fishing is one of the few lucrative, albeit seasonal, occupations available.

Aaron Stiassny of the Maserculiq Fish Processors in Marshall, on the Yukon in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, said his employes processed 36,000 pounds of kings for shipping after a big run on the night of June 27. Fresh fish then were flown out to Seattle for delivery to customers from New York to California, he said.

"The domestic and Japanese markets are the best," said Edna Crawford of Boreal Fisheries, who acknowledged that Yukon kings are still the new kid on the block compared to Copper River. "We don't have the marketing campaign or the history of Copper River, so we have to sell for less, but we are going into filleting (on site)," she said.

On site for Boreal Fisheries is at St. Mary's, 450 air miles west northwest of Anchorage on the north bank of the Andreafsky River, five miles from its confluence with the Yukon River.

A grant from the Alaska Department of Commerce helped Boreal Fisheries secure filleting equipment, so the company can now do heading and gutting and filleting of kings right in St. Mary's, and there are plans are for a blast freezer and vacuum packing it right into a point-of-sale product in St. Mary's, Crawford said.

Boreal also has a large domestic market for its smoked salmon, and salmon candy in high-end retail establishments nationwide, said Marti Bickford, Boreal's marketing representative.

Demand is perhaps a little slowed as a result of the high prices commanded by the first-run Copper River salmon, but it will all get bought, said Jack Gadwill, general manager in Emmonak for KwikPak Fisheries LLC.

Emmonak lies at the mouth of the Yukon River, 10 miles from the Bering Sea, and 490 air miles from Anchorage, in the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge. KwikPak is a subsidiary of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association, a community development quota fisheries group with offices in Emmonak, Anchorage and Seattle.

The CDQ program is a federal fisheries program to promote fisheries-related economic development that involves eligible communities that have formed six regional organizations.

"KwikPak's kings are headed for high-end food service and retail establishments around the country," Gadwill said. "It's a harder sell (than previously). We are getting better prices than last year, but still meeting with some resistance to higher priced fish."

KwikPak fish also have markets in France and Japan, Gadwill said.

KwikPak used grants from its parent CDQ group for a marketing campaign which has greatly increased the number of buyers in Japan. The company also sells its fish through Copper River Seafoods and Pescamax in Seattle, he said.

Both Boreal and KwikPak attribute much of their success to increased care given to the harvest. Boreal requires fishermen to bleed the fish before delivering them to tenders, which immediately ice them. KwikPak, which only operates one tender, requires harvesters to bleed and ice fish before delivery.

"It makes an amazing difference," Gadwill said.

Both companies also promoted their products at the Boston Seafood Show. Boreal, in fact, received a free trip to last year's show, for its winning entry of smoked Yukon king salmon at the Alaska Symphony of Seafood, sponsored by the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation.