Reading the season
What is a statistical week?
A statistical week is the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's reporting week, running Sunday through Saturday and numbered from the start of the year. The salmon season covers roughly statistical week 20 in mid-May through week 40 in early October, and run-timing comparisons anchor to the stat week rather than the calendar date.
Updated Jul 10, 2026
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A statistical week is the reporting week the Alaska Department of Fish and Game counts by, and it runs Sunday through Saturday. The salmon season covers roughly statistical week 20 in mid-May through week 40 in early October, and this is the clock the fleet and the managers use to line up one season against another. When a harvest update says week 28, it means a specific Sunday-to-Saturday block, not the calendar date it happened to be posted.
Sunday to Saturday, numbered through the year
ADF&G's statistical week starts Sunday at 12:01 in the morning and ends the following Saturday at midnight. The weeks are numbered from the start of the calendar year, so by the time salmon are running the count is already up in the twenties. Week 24 in 2026 closed on June 13, week 25 on June 20 and each following week steps forward by seven days. It is a plain calendar device, but a consistent one, and consistency is the whole reason it exists.
Why the run is measured in stat weeks, not dates
Salmon runs do not care about the calendar, they care about where they are in the run. Comparing June 20 this year to June 20 last year can mislead, because the run may be timed a few days early or late from one year to the next. Anchoring to the statistical week lets managers and buyers set this season against a normal one at the same point in the run, week 27 against week 27, so the comparison is like for like. Run timing, whether a run is early, late or on schedule, is read off the stat-week position, not the date on the wall.
Weeks 20 to 40: the season window
The commercial salmon season lives in a predictable band of the year. Things begin around week 20 in mid-May when the Copper River opens, build hard through the sockeye weeks of late June and July, then taper through the pink and coho weeks of late summer into early October near week 40. The scoreboard fills fastest in the middle of that band, when Bristol Bay and the other big sockeye fisheries peak. Outside weeks 20 to 40 there is little commercial salmon fishing, which is why the season effectively is those twenty-odd weeks.
Worked example: where the season sits now
- Cumulative sockeye harvest
The chart above tracks this season's cumulative harvest as it builds week by week. Read the current point on the line as a stat-week position, not just a date: how far the season has climbed, and how steep the rise is right now. A curve going nearly vertical means a peak fishery is running, the sockeye weeks doing what they do. A flattening curve means the big runs are past and the season is filling in behind them. Comparing the height of the line at this stat week against where it usually sits at the same week is how you tell an early run from a late one.
For the calendar those weeks map onto, see the Alaska salmon calendar, and for the report the weeks organize, see how to read the Blue Sheet.
Now look at the live data
Common questions
What is a statistical week in Alaska fisheries?
It is ADF&G's standard reporting week, running Sunday through Saturday and numbered from the start of the year. Harvest and run-timing data are organized by statistical week.
When does the Alaska salmon season fall in statistical weeks?
Roughly statistical week 20 in mid-May through week 40 in early October, with the sockeye peak landing in the late-June and July weeks.
Why does ADF&G use statistical weeks instead of dates?
So run timing can be compared year to year at the same point in the run. Lining up the same stat week across seasons is more meaningful than comparing raw calendar dates.