How many Canadian salmon and steelhead are killed in Alaskan interception fisheries?
In 2021, over 700,000 sockeye salmon were caught in southeast Alaskan interception fisheries, the majority coming from Canadian streams.
Nearly 28 million pink salmon were caught in these same fisheries in Alaska, with an unknown proportion being of Canadian origin.
Over 1.1 million chum salmon were also caught in interception fisheries, and while many of these were produced in Alaskan hatcheries, the catch also caught a significant number of North Coast and Central chum salmon from populations of conservation concern.
Over 200,000 chinook were harvested, the vast majority from B.C. and Washington.
An additional unknown number of Chinook and steelhead were caught and released (almost certainly dead) in seine fisheries. 1.5 million coho were also harvested, again with an unknown proportion of B.C. origin.
The numbers above do not include salmon returning to transboundary rivers.