Petersburg Pilot -

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reported last week that commercial fishermen caught a total of 66.6 million salmon in Southeast Alaska during 2023, including both naturally returning and hatchery-produced salmon of all five species.

Last April, Fish and Game estimated that Southeast Alaska commercial fishermen would take just about 31.6 million fish in 2023. The actual commercial harvest more than doubled that projection; fishermen's 2023 catch topped the department's estimate by 35 million fish.

The high 2023 catch beat out 2021, the previous "odd-year" salmon harvest, by 7.7 million f...