The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released details of a bid to buy 16,720 cases of canned pink salmon.
The product will be used for the agency's National School Lunch program and Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs across the United States.
The USDA bid is for cases containing twenty four 14.75-ounce cans of sockeye salmon.
Deliveries will be made between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31.
The USDA has been ramping up its purchasing and bid requests for both wild salmon and pollock this year, following marketing groups pleas for help with cutting the glut and making room for even more fish.
Processors blame high levels of unsold inventory from last year's season, weak consumer demand and collapsing wholesale markets for the low prices, some of the lowest in decades.
The Alaska news site Cordova Times reported Monday the preliminary statewide overall salmon harvest stood at more than 219 million fish, including 147.6 million pinks. Prince William Sound accounted for 56.3 million pinks this year and 46.7 million from Alaska's Southeast.
Research analyst Simon Marks with McKinley Research Group, in Juneau, said this year’s Alaska salmon harvest is 16 percent larger than the pre-season forecast, but down about 10 percent from 2022, according to the news site.
Read more
- Plagued by challenging market, Alaska pink salmon harvest unlikely to meet full potential as fishermen, processors throw in the towel
- 'We haven't seen a collapse in value like this since the 1990s': Pink salmon market crumbles under weight of Alaska, Russia harvests
- Alaska pollock prices have nosedived but industry execs see light on the horizon
