Seafood Watch

Seafood Watch® Wild Pacific Salmon Report October 8, 2010
Availability of Science
Pacific salmon are intensively managed for several reasons, including their commercial value,
their anadromous nature, and the listing of depleted salmon ESUs under the Endangered Species
Act. As a result, a large body of both scientific and management literature exists regarding
salmon. Despite the availability of this literature, a number of difficulties in conducting a review
of West Coast salmon fisheries still exist. Assessments of fisheries are complicated by the role of
habitat degradation, climatic oscillations, and other non-fishery related factors in impacting
stocks, as well as by the mixed-stock nature of many salmon fisheries and the shifting role of
hatcheries in salmon conservation and stock augmentation. An abundance of hatchery fish can
mask long-term trends in natural spawners. More importantly, because salmon return to their
natal streams to spawn, there can be and often is a high level of variation between the health of
salmon stocks in relatively close proximity. Given this geographic difference, along with the
remaining uncertainties and complicating factors, this assessment does not claim to review each
individual salmon run. Instead, it provides basic guidelines for assessment, and attempts to make
recommendations on a broad regional basis.
Market Availability
Common and market names:
o Pacific salmon:
o Chinook salmon is also known as king salmon or spring salmon.
o Coho salmon is also known as silver salmon.
o Sockeye salmon is also known as red salmon or blueback salmon.
o Chum salmon is also known as dog salmon.
o Pink salmon is also known as humpback salmon.
o Salmon may also be marketed by the name of their river of origin.
Seasonal availability:
Pacific salmon can typically be found year-round in both retail and service markets, with peak
abundance varying by season and region. The 2010 fisheries for salmon from California and
Oregon (south of Cape Falcon) was small and resulted in mainly a fresh supply of salmon. As
such, salmon from those areas is likely no longer available in the market until the fishing season
opens again in 2011. The wild supply of salmon is augmented by a comparatively small
international production of farmed Pacific salmon. Additionally, large quantities of farmed
Atlantic salmon are available year-round. Farmed salmon are reviewed separately in the Seafood
Watch® Farmed Salmon report.
Product forms:
Pacific salmon are marketed as canned, fresh, or frozen fillets, frozen whole fish, smoked, or
value-added products (e.g., prepared meal portions).
Import and export sources and statistics:
The vast majority of Pacific salmon on the U.S. market is landed domestically, with a large
quantity of landings exported abroad. Since 1980, between 250,000 and 450,000 metric tons (mt)
of Pacific salmon have been landed annually at U.S. ports. By quantity, the main species landed
have been pink and sockeye salmon from Alaska, followed by chum salmon and to a lesser
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