The Shumagin Current

Through June 27, ADF&G’s inseason total-harvest estimate showed 3,694,757 salmon harvested in the South Peninsula June fishery — 1,895,855 sockeye, 1,316,723 pink, 480,451 chum, 1,227 Chinook, and 501 coho. Sockeye led the catch and pink salmon arrived in meaningful early numbers — the kind of start that matters for crews, processors, tenders, and families throughout Aleutians East.

The fleet generated that value while still giving up opportunity for conservation. At the June 18 evaluation, cumulative chum was well under the 300,000-fish trigger. At the June 23 evaluation, it was well under the 450,000-fish trigger. At the end of the month, the fleet voluntarily gave up more than a day of the final opener rather than keep fishing through increasingly chum-heavy catches. Across June, captains and crews left tens of hours of opportunity in the water to support chum conservation.

Using ADF&G’s June 27 estimates, average delivered weights, and Trident Seafoods’ current Area M market prices, The Shumagin Current estimates the June harvest generated roughly $10.3 million in direct dockside value and supported $20M–$25M in regional economic activity. The full report covers the trigger checkpoints, the economic model, the July 2, 3, 5 test fishery, the early pink read, and a 10-year cumulative chum chart with the high outlier (2021), the low outliers (2023, 2025), the typical year, and 2026 highlighted.