Alaskan Pink Salmon: Fishing Seasons

Respecting the life cycle and development of fish and seafood is our priority. One of our best-selling products is Alaskan Pink Salmon, which is why we want to learn more about the fishing seasons and its development in the marine ecosystem.

Alaska, world renowned for its great salmon fishing, is one of the only places in the world where salmon fishing is still wild. The abundance of predators and scavengers that depend on salmon is a living testament to the success of Alaska's salmon fisheries management policy. Alaska salmon are an important and integral part of the natural ecosystem in which these species live. Unlike in other parts of the world, Alaska salmon stocks are not threatened or endangered.

On the other hand, Pacific salmon species typically inhabit the northern Pacific coast from northern California to the Bering Sea and the waters off the coast of Alaska. Unlike farmed Atlantic salmon, which typically have the characteristic white streaks of fat and orange flesh, wild Alaskan salmon have much leaner, reddish-toned flesh, which varies in each of the five species: king, coho, chum, pink and sockeye salmon. Like their distant European cousins, Alaskan salmon return to the fresh waters where they were born to spawn and then migrate to the sea to develop into adults. Each of the five species have distinct reproductive cycles, so the spawning season and main fishing periods vary from species to species, although these are fish that are usually available year-round because they are distributed frozen.

The season begins in May with the first arrivals of salmon in the rivers of the Gulf of Alaska, throughout the summer they continue up the coast of the Bering Sea until the last ones finish their routes at the end of September in the rivers of the "Northern Sounds".

At the end of their offshore feeding cycle, the salmon return to their birth waters to move up the rivers to spawn, thus ending their life cycle.

Salmon that return to freshwater early in the season have brighter skin color than those that arrive later in the season, but all darken as the spawning period approaches.

Darker skin and paler flesh generally indicate a more mature fish with a lower commercial value than a fish with a bright silver skin color and intense flesh color. However, flesh and skin color varies from region to region, and between species, and does not always reflect the intrinsic quality of the salmon.

In short, we call on the conscience of each link in the fishing industry chain to carry out sustainable fishing where marine ecosystems are respected and the reproductive rhythm of the fish is adapted to maintain the balance and thus guarantee the survival of all species. At Pescatore Seafood we reject any illegal practice that violates the marine ecosystem, especially that of salmon.