A new report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shows the value of Cook Inlet’s commercial sockeye salmon fishery almost doubled this year compared to last year. Fishermen caught more than $40 million worth of salmon across all species in both Upper and Lower Cook Inlet, according to preliminary harvest data released earlier this month.
Colton Lipka says there’s a simple reason for the spike. He’s the management biologist for Upper Cook Inlet’s commercial fisheries.
“The most meaningful reason for the large jump in the value is the large jump in harvest,” he said.
That jump is mostly thanks to sockeye. Commercial fishermen caught more than $36 million worth of sockeye in Upper Cook Inlet this year. That’s up from less than $20 million last year, and from a little over $14 million the year before that.
The department predicted a run of just under seven million sockeye ahead of the season. But the actual run was significantly higher, at more than 12 million fish. Upper Cook Inlet commercial fishermen harvested roughly a third of that – making up almost the entire season's catch across all species.
“You’ve got to have fish to be able to catch fish,” he said. “But this year's Cook Inlet run was substantial, you know, getting up into that 12 million fish. That's not something we see very regularly.”
The Upper Cook Inlet area covers the inlet’s drift fleet and three setnet fleets. It also covers the commercial dipnet fishery created last year. Commercial dipnetters caught around 130,000 fish this year. The 2025 report doesn’t include the value of fish caught by an experimental beach seine fishery, which was not allowed to sell harvested fish this year.
Cook Inlet’s drift fleet makes up the bulk of the commercial harvest. Cook Inlet’s east side setnet fishery has a similar number of permit holders. But the fishery has been significantly limited and, in recent seasons, closed outright due to low Chinook runs. The fleet holds more than 400 of the roughly 500 commercial permits that reported fish harvests in Upper Cook Inlet this year.
“Talking about all of the setnetting in Cook Inlet – we take all of them, and, you know, they're at around 180,000 sockeye, you know, opposed to the drift fleet at, you know, three and a half million,” he said. “There's a pretty significant difference in scale and participation.”
Lipka says the average price paid to fishermen for Upper Cook Inlet sockeye is on par with recent years, at about $1.70 per pound. That’s up from 2020’s low, which was roughly 50 cents per pound less. Lipka says Upper Cook Inlet fish tend to be more valuable earlier in the summer, before Bristol Bay’s sockeye salmon fishery ramps up.
“It was a good price for a pound this year, right about where, you know, it has been,” he said. “And you just add on to that, you know, one of the larger harvests that we've seen in quite a while, and you generate a pretty solid exvessel value.”
Lipka says the department’s preliminary summary is exactly that – a summary. He’s already gearing up for the 2026 forecast. He says that report tends to be more consequential for the region’s commercial fishermen ahead of next season. That preseason forecast is scheduled for publication in January.
