Norton Sound’s 2026 commercial salmon catch is 48,700 fish, worth about $321,000

Norton Sound’s 2026 commercial salmon season finished below average on volume and near average on value, with the smallest permit count since 2007. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Oct. 14 season summary, still labeled preliminary, reports 48,700 salmon worth $320,657 to permit holders. Seventy-two permits fished, from five fishermen in Subdistrict 4 to 28 in Subdistrict 6. The recent five-year average value in the department’s table is $325,865.

Chum salmon were the bright commercial number: 24,730 fish, double the recent five-year average. Coho came in at 13,639, near that average. The sheet also shows 2,910 sockeye and 7,421 pinks. Commercial Chinook were zero, and the only buyer, Norton Sound Seafood Products, did not purchase kings. Prices matched 2025: $2.20 a pound for sockeye, $1.90 for coho, $0.75 for chum, and $0.35 for pink. NSSP’s main plant was Unalakleet, with some fish processed in Nome. No catcher-seller permits were registered. Subdistrict 1, Nome, had no commercial harvest.

Escapement was uneven. The summary says chum salmon made all but one goal, pink salmon made two of three, and Chinook salmon made none of the established goals. The Nome River pink goal was missed. The Port Clarence sockeye goal was met for the third year in a row. Coho made the Kwiniuk River goal in Subdistrict 3; the North River tower in Subdistrict 6 stopped operating before that coho goal could be judged. Subsistence fishing had no new emergency restrictions except the Chinook conservation limits in Subdistricts 5 and 6 that have been in place since 2024. Contacts are Kevin Clark and Luke Henslee, (907) 443-5167 or (800) 560-2271.

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

Source: ADF&G — 2026 Norton Sound–Port Clarence salmon season summary (PDF) (Oct. 14, 2026).