Bristol Bay saw the largest sockeye run since 1893 at 62.3 million, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). It also saw the largest gain to date in ex-vessel value for its salmon.

The district's sockeye salmon harvest was 41.3 million, and is the second largest harvest on record. The run was 21 percent above its preseason forecast of 51.3 million fish, with all districts except Egekik experiencing larger-than-expected runs. The price for salmon from Bristol Bay was equally historic this year at an ex-vessel value of $281 million (€244 million), the highest value on record for the fish. That value was 39 percent higher than the second-highest ex-vessel value of $202 million (€176 million) in 1990.

Norm Van Vactor, CEO of Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation, which owns 50 percent of Ocean Beauty Seafoods, told IntraFish he doesn't expect those gains to diminish over the course of this year now that the season is over.

"I think the trend is going to continue," he said. "We're seeing the marketplace has been able to absorb the volume that Bristol Bay produced. That's not to say everybody is sold out. There is a frozen inventory being carried by companies and that will be carried by companies for months to come."

Van Vactor anticipates the trend of processors moving away from canned salmon to other forms to continue in Alaska.

"Frozen and value-added production is going to be the future for Bristol Bay," he said. "But there will always be a place for a limited amount of canned salmon."

He noted canned salmon prices are up as well, but are still not seeing as much value in the marketplace as fresh, frozen and headed and gutted (H&G).

Van Vactor said this year was an unusual one for Bristol Bay--which in the past saw lower prices whenever its supply increased--due to a generally abysmal season for the rest of Alaska's salmon districts. This year's Chignik harvest was the poorest return on record since Alaska achieved statehood in 1959, according to ADF&G.

"We don't want to be jumping up and down too much here," Van Vactor said. "We also benefited from being able to fill the void of other areas that did not produce to expectation."

Why H&G is on the rise in Alaska

Garrett Evridge, an Alaska-based fishery economist with the McDowell Group, told IntraFish the trend in Alaska over the past few years has been large salmon harvests--there have been three since 2013 at over 1 billion pounds of fish--with processors pushing that product to H&G versus canned forms.

"Another trend we see is more exports of Alaska salmon to reprocessing markets such as China," he said. "In the past 10 to 15 years, the amount of H&G salmon we send to China has expanded."

Evridge said that's largely due to market demand for a product that is more versatile than the canned category.

"When we send H&G salmon to China, it's reprocessed into a variety of products such as frozen fillets and salmon burgers," he said.

Sockeye salmon exports from the United States to China have seen gains in recent years. Between 2013 and 2017, exports to China increased from 1,019 metric tons to 4,017 metric tons. The value of those exports significantly increased during that time, from $6.4 (€5.6 million) in 2013 to $23.6 million (€20.5 million) in 2017.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story stated this year's sockeye harvest was 62.3 million.

Marketplace

Bristol Bay sees historic gains in salmon value and supply