Alaska’s commercial salmon harvest climbs past 87 million fish

Alaska’s 2026 commercial salmon tally is still climbing. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s preliminary Blue Sheet, as fetched Sept. 10, 2026, puts the statewide total at 87,406 thousand fish — about 87.4 million — led by pink and sockeye.

The species split in thousands of fish: Chinook 167; chum 10,411; coho 1,285; pink 37,893; sockeye 37,650. Blue Sheet numbers are preliminary, refresh often, and omit confidential catches. Even at 87 million, the run is still well short of ADF&G’s spring preseason forecast of about 125.5 million.

In Southeast, traditional common-property pink purse-seine openings wrapped around Sept. 3 with roughly 18.7 million pinks in that gear, per the department’s Sept. 4 inseason summary; many districts have since shifted toward fall coho management. Totals will move again as late tickets post — treat the Blue Sheet as a snapshot, not a final season wrap.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: ADF&G Commercial Salmon Blue Sheet (preliminary statewide totals as of Sept. 10, 2026). Regional context: ADF&G inseason Blue Sheet summary (Region 1).