Salmon forecast set at 138 million fish

ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has set its statewide commercial salmon harvest for 2010.

The state agency said the projected total is 138 million salmon.

The amount is a decrease compared to last year. Most of the decrease is expected to come from lower pink salmon catches. Overall, chinook and sockeye harvests are expected to be higher than last year. Coho and chum should be about the same.

The estimated chinook salmon harvest of 515,000 fish is an increase over the 2009 harvest of 359,000 chinooks.