2018 will be a low year for salmon

State officials are projecting a drop in the 2018 salmon harvest, with 149 million sh compared with 224 million in 2017. Most of the decline is in pink salmon, estimated at a 70 million sh harvest or half of last year. Pinks run in a two-year cycle and 2018 is an off-year. The sockeye salmon harvest is projected at 52 million, down 1.8 million from last year. Sockeyes have a higher value than pinks. The 2017 salmon catch was worth $680 million in payments to harvesters.

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Tough year for Southeast charters

Southeast sports charter operators are bracing for a down season following announcements of new king salmon catch restrictions. Southeast waters will be closed to all sports fishing for kings from April through June and with sharp limits at other times. King salmon are a big attraction for sports sh clients and the limits have a discouraging effect.