Sitka-area seiners have broken two single-day pink salmon harvest records, a “once in a blue moon” event, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game Sitka-area management biologist Aaron Dupuis.

Seiners harvested 1.23 million pinks on Aug. 6, breaking the previous single-day record set in 2017. Then on Aug. 10, they eclipsed that figure with a one-day catch of 1.28 million fish.

The season also produced cumulative harvest records in two areas of West Baranof Island south of Sitka, Dupuis said. In Whale Bay, this year’s harvest total stands at 375,000 pink salmon, well above the previous record of 125,000 set in 1998. In West Crawfish Inlet, the total has reached 686,000, surpassing the previous record of 626,000 set in 2004.

Two factors are driving the record numbers: A strong pink salmon run and a higher-than-usual number of seiners on the fishing grounds.

Dupris said 20 to 30 more boats than average are on the water this year because of slow or late-starting runs in Ketchikan, Juneau and Petersburg. The pink salmon run around Sitka, while also late, turned on sooner than in those other areas, he said.

“We got a lot of boats early on, and then the fishing stayed good, so they stayed up here,” Dupris said.

Overall, the 2026 Southeast Alaska pink salmon harvest is expected to be near average, the Department of Fish and Game reported on Aug. 21, with a harvest forecast of 19 million fish falling at the lower end of the forecast pink salmon harvest range (19 million to 33 million).

“Despite a historically slow start to the season, pink salmon harvest is on track to meet forecast. Over 2 million pink salmon were harvested during the most recent two-day opening, bringing the season’s total to over 15 million fish,” the department said Aug. 21.

Pink salmon escapements were generally weak in early-run rivers, while escapement to middle-run systems range from poor to excellent, the department reported. “Many systems are experiencing low water and the pink salmon are staging in the saltwater, waiting for stream levels to increase.”

The gillnet fishery for pinks in Districts 6 and 8 near Wrangell was open for four days beginning Aug. 16, with the fishing effort below the recent 10-year average in both districts.

Almost three dozen boats working the four-day opening caught 10 king salmon, 600 sockeye, 6,000 coho, 31,000 pink and 3,000 chum salmon in District 6, and 20 kings, 200 sockeye, 2,000 coho, 2,000 pink and 5,000 chum among 14 boats working in District 8.

Asked why the pink salmon run started so late in Southeast Alaska this year, Dupris called it the “million-dollar question,” and pointed to “big ocean stuff,” such as changing water temperatures, as a likely factor.

Despite the record overall harvest, the catch per boat has been close to average, he said, because more boats are sharing the harvest. “The pie is only so big.”

Still, Dupris said, morale is high among fishermen and the fishery managers.

High spirits in the seine fleet stem in large degree from the rare combination of high abundance and strong prices, Dupris said. Seiners are getting about 60 cents a pound for pink and about $1.30 a pound for chum.

The Wrangell Sentinel contributed reporting for this story.