UW-FRI Releases Preliminary Forecast for 2024

The University of Washington’s Fisheries Research Institute (FRI) has published a preliminary forecast of the 2024 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run. FRI’s initial prediction for 2024 is a run of 38.9 million sockeye, with a harvest of 26.4 million sockeye. This forecasted run would be 32% below the 2013-2022 (10-year average). The projected average weight of sockeye salmon in 2024 is 5.5 pounds.

In-season harvest reports as of August 31, 2023, show a harvest of 39.4 million sockeye in Bristol Bay for this season and a total run of 53.3 million sockeye. The 2023 harvest is just shy of the 2016-2021 average harvest of 41.8 million sockeye, but well short of last year’s record 61.0 million fish harvest.

Click HERE to read the FRI’s Preliminary 2024 Sockeye Forecast for Bristol Bay, Alaska.