The five species and their markets

Alaska lands five species of Pacific salmon, and they sell into five different markets. Sockeye is the value engine, pink and chum are the volume, and coho and Chinook are the smaller, higher-priced runs. More pink salmon cross the docks than any other species most years, but sockeye earns the largest share of the money, and that split is the thing to understand about salmon value.

The five species, and their fleet names

Every species carries a market name and a deckhand name. Sockeye are reds, prized for deep red flesh that holds its color and flavor. Pink salmon are humpies, the smallest and most abundant. Chum are dogs, now widely sold as keta. Coho are silvers. Chinook are kings, the largest and least numerous. Get comfortable with both sets of names, because a fish ticket, a forecast and a dock conversation may each reach for a different one.

Sockeye: the value engine

Sockeye drive the dollar value of the Alaska season. They are a mid-sized fish with firm, deep-colored meat that sells fresh, frozen and as fillets, and their roe adds to the payout. Bristol Bay is the heart of it, the largest sockeye fishery in the world. In a recent season, ADF&G data put sockeye at roughly two-thirds of the total ex-vessel value of the Alaska harvest while making up a far smaller share of the fish count. That gap is why this site leads with the sockeye scoreboard even in a big pink year.

Pink and chum: the volume

Pinks are the backbone of the canned salmon business, and they carry the fish count. They are small, mild and lower in oil, which suits canning and, in recent years, pouches and value packs. Chum are bigger than pinks and leaner than sockeye, and their real money is often in the roe, the ikura that sells to Japanese and other buyers. Both species lean heavily on hatcheries. A large share of Alaska's pink and chum harvest comes back from hatchery releases, especially in Prince William Sound and Southeast, so the volume in these two species is partly a produced one.

Coho and Chinook: small and premium

Coho, the silvers, run later and fill out the fall, a clean bright fish that sells fresh and frozen at a premium to pinks and chum. Chinook, the kings, are the giants, caught in the smallest numbers and priced the highest per pound, sold largely fresh into a premium market. Neither moves the season's fish count much. Both matter to the value, and kings matter to management well past their tonnage, because weak king runs drive some of the sharpest fishing restrictions in the state.

Why the sockeye line drives the dollars

The species board above is the reason the count and the value tell different stories. A season can land tens of millions of pinks and still turn on how the sockeye came in, because sockeye carry so much more value per fish. When the sockeye scoreboard is strong, the season's dollar value is usually strong, whatever the pinks do. Read the fish count and the value as two separate questions, and let the sockeye line answer the second one.

For where each species sits in the calendar, from the first reds of May to the fall silvers, see the Alaska salmon calendar. The Run reports harvest and value as ADF&G publishes them.