How are salmon caught?

Wild salmon are caught with a number of different fishing gears. They are caught by trolling, purse seine nets, and gillnets. Salmon are caught while they are aggregating at mouths of rivers at the start of their spawning run in late spring or through the summer.

Spawning adults run upriver all summer and fall, timing their runs so that they are not all in the same space at the same time. Commercial fishermen can concentrate their efforts in these inshore areas. Fishing generally begins a little earlier in southern Alaska than in northern Alaska, as the fish begin their spawning runs when rain and melting ice help water flow more easily.

The months of June-September bring the most fish. There is minimal impact on the environment from salmon fishing gears in Alaska, and because most salmon species are caught mixed in with each other, there is little bycatch of other species.