Copper River salmon are a hot item on restaurant menus from Anchorage to Seattle in early summer, and at seafood counters too, with a word to the wise to always get them while you can.
One of Anchorage's most popular retail seafood markets was sold out by June 11 of all its Copper River salmon and had a waiting list of customers eager to buy sockeye and king salmon expected to arrive June 12 from the fourth commercial opener of the Copper River salmon fishery.
Copper River Seafoods, with ready access to the harvest from the fishery's first 24-hour commercial opener of the season, which ended on the morning of June 11,was online promoting 5 pounds packages of fresh Copper River king fillets for starting at $199, 10 pounds starting at $349, or 20 pounds starting at $654, plus 10 pounds of fresh Copper River sockeye fillets starting at $339, all with next day shipping charges via UPS included.
In Seattle, Pike Place Fish Market urged customers online to call on the availability of Copper River kings and sockeye, both whole and filleted. The popular store had other fresh whole wild king salmon to sell at $17.99 a pound, plus fresh wild king fillets for $27.99 a pound, whole wild sockeyes at $74.95 each or $22.99 a pound.
FishEx in Anchorage was offering fresh Copper River sockeye fillets at $25.95 a pound and king filets for $38.95 a pound.
The demand and price are always high for fresh Copper River salmon at the start of the season, thanks to highly sophisticated marketing campaigns.
By June 11, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's preliminary commercial salmon harvest blue sheet (updated daily online at www.adfg.alaska.gov ) showed the Copper River harvest for the first three periods at 586,000 reds, some 5,000 kings and 7,000 chums.
And the competition for a wider offering of fresh wild Alaska sockeye and king salmon was starting to unfold the week of June 10, with some 8,000 sockeyes harvested in the Egegik District of Bristol Bay, plus another 6,000 in the central district of Upper Cook Inlet and 5,000 in the southern district of Lower Cook Inlet.
At Kodiak, harvesters had a catch of 93,000 sockeye, 5,000 chum, and fewer than 1,000 each of kings and pink salmon, while in Chignik, harvesters brought in 174,000 reds, 2,000 chum and fewer than 1,00 each of kings, silvers and pinks.
For Southeast Alaska, the king salmon harvest stood at 36,000 Chinook, plus fewer than 1,000 each of chum, silver and sockeye salmon.
Commercial harvests are yet to begin in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region.
The statewide wild salmon harvest stood at 1,628,000 fish, including 898,000 reds, 685,000 chum, 44,000 kings and fewer than 1,000 each of silver and pink salmon.
You can reach Cordova Times reporter Margaret Bauman with comments and suggestions at mbauman(at)thecordovatimes.com
Copper River salmon are a hot item on restaurant menus from Anchorage to Seattle in early summer, and at seafood counters too, with a word to the wise to always get them while you can.
One of Anchorage's most popular retail seafood markets was sold out by June 11 of all its Copper River salmon and had a waiting list of customers eager to buy sockeye and king salmon expected to arrive June 12 from the fourth commercial opener of the Copper River salmon fishery.
Copper River Seafoods, with ready access to the harvest from the fishery's first 24-hour commercial opener of the season, which ended on the morning of June 11,was online promoting 5 pounds packages of fresh Copper River king fillets for starting at $199, 10 pounds starting at $349, or 20 pounds starting at $654, plus 10 pounds of fresh Copper River sockeye fillets starting at $339, all with next day shipping charges via UPS included.
In Seattle, Pike Place Fish Market urged customers online to call on the availability of Copper River kings and sockeye, both whole and filleted. The popular store had other fresh whole wild king salmon to sell at $17.99 a pound, plus fresh wild king fillets for $27.99 a pound, whole wild sockeyes at $74.95 each or $22.99 a pound.
FishEx in Anchorage was offering fresh Copper River sockeye fillets at $25.95 a pound and king filets for $38.95 a pound.
The demand and price are always high for fresh Copper River salmon at the start of the season, thanks to highly sophisticated marketing campaigns.
By June 11, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's preliminary commercial salmon harvest blue sheet (updated daily online at www.adfg.alaska.gov ) showed the Copper River harvest for the first three periods at 586,000 reds, some 5,000 kings and 7,000 chums.
And the competition for a wider offering of fresh wild Alaska sockeye and king salmon was starting to unfold the week of June 10, with some 8,000 sockeyes harvested in the Egegik District of Bristol Bay, plus another 6,000 in the central district of Upper Cook Inlet and 5,000 in the southern district of Lower Cook Inlet.
At Kodiak, harvesters had a catch of 93,000 sockeye, 5,000 chum, and fewer than 1,000 each of kings and pink salmon, while in Chignik, harvesters brought in 174,000 reds, 2,000 chum and fewer than 1,00 each of kings, silvers and pinks.
For Southeast Alaska, the king salmon harvest stood at 36,000 Chinook, plus fewer than 1,000 each of chum, silver and sockeye salmon.
Commercial harvests are yet to begin in the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region.
The statewide wild salmon harvest stood at 1,628,000 fish, including 898,000 reds, 685,000 chum, 44,000 kings and fewer than 1,000 each of silver and pink salmon.
You can reach Margaret Bauman with comments and suggestions at mbauman@thecordovatimes.com
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