Last year saw the largest number and weight of salmon ever caught in the North Pacific.
The North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission recently published data from last year’s catches in the region, which is fished by Russia, the USA, Japan, Korea, and Canada. The North Pacific is where salmon from all five countries mingle and feed for several years before returning to their home streams to spawn.
There were 1.1 million metric tonnes, nearly 728 million salmon, harvested last year, 63% of them were pink salmon.
It’s the seventh year since 2007 with catches larger than 1 million metric tonnes, which mostly occurred in odd years. Pink salmon have two distinct genetic variants, one which returns in even years and one in odd years to spawn. Odd-year returns of pinks are usually larger than even years.
Russia took 55% of the catch, and the USA took 39%. Japan took 5.6%, and Canada took less than one per cent.
Russian, American, and Asian salmon hatcheries have released roughly 5 billion hatchery fish into the region each year since 1993.
