Kotzebue Sound's chum harvest rebounded this year, but it's unclear by how much

Chum salmon rebounded this summer in Alaska’s Kotzebue Sound after two disastrous seasons, and many commercial fishermen say it’s among their best in years. John Rae, who has fished there for more than four decades, said boats returned to dock with fish and the season felt dramatically better than 2023 and 2024 combined. The state’s reported numbers tell part of the story: 2024 produced about 5,400 chum, the worst since state management began in 1962, while last year’s roughly 35,000 was the fourth-lowest on record. However, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game withheld this year’s total harvest, citing buyer confidentiality rules, leaving the exact scale of the rebound unclear.