Tony Gorman, KCHU – Valdez & Associated Press
This year’s Copper River Run is off to a strong start.
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Monday’s first opener of the season yielded 105,300 sockeyes.
That far exceeded Fish and Game’s projection of 41,000.
The second opener began this morning at 7 o’clock and runs for 12 hours.
The opener day price of Copper River sockeye was about four dollars a pound.
The first plane load containing 12 tons of Copper River sockeye arrived Tuesday at Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport.
The first fish–a 45 pound sockeye–was carried off the plane by the pilot, and was quickly cut divided among three chefs for a airport cook-off. The open market value of that fish in Seattle would be about $1,000.
Many Seattle restaurants eagerly seek these first fish of the season.
Last year Alaska Airlines flew nearly 700,000 pounds of Copper River Salmon.
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