The fishery for Copper River King Salmon opened in Alaska at 7 a.m. Thursday and the first shipment of fish arrived with much fanfare at Sea-Tac Airport Friday morning.
At Wild Salmon Seafood Market at Fisherman's Terminal, co-owner Paula Cassidy was on the phone with fishermen on Thursday to see how they were doing. Turns out they were catching very few fish.
"Our fishermen feel because of the very cold water temperatures they had a late ice break-up on the Copper River Delta that the fish just aren't ready to return," said Cassidy.
That means the fish they did catch today and that will arrive on Friday will be expensive.
"With the news we received today, yes we do think the prices could be as high as $60/pound. Here at Wild Salmon Seafood Market we try not to do that. We try to keep it as low as possible without losing money. We could see some exorbitant pricing on the first run," said Cassidy.
Co-owner Jon Spelt expected pricing for Copper River King Salmon to hit the upper $40s per pound.
He said fewer King Salmon available in the North Pacific also keep the price of Copper River King high.
"There's fewer fish out there for a variety of reasons, whether it's cyclical or whether it's climate change or whatever, something's happening that there's fewer fish coming back and in addition to that they're coming back smaller," said Spelt.
The Copper River Salmon that was flown in Friday will reach the Wild Salmon Seafood Market in the afternoon.
More news from KIRO 7
- Pack of vicious dogs running wild attacks, kills woman
- Police: Woman raped by homeless man in Ballard car dealership bathroom
- Man critically injured in Seattle hatchet attack
- Why did SPD spokesmen not release info about Ballard homeless rape case?
- 'Explosive eruption' at Kilauea's summit in Hawaii sends ash 30,000 feet into the air