Alaska Salmon Counts
Know the run.
Final 2026 counts from Alaska's weirs and sonars, set against each river's escapement goal and a typical year. 2026 season — final
In all: 10 counted runs on 8 rivers — the major counters, the ones people fish. What is and isn't covered
The 2026 tally: of the 9 runs with a published escapement goal, 3 finished below their goal range, 4 inside it, and 2 above it. 1 run has no published escapement goal.
How to read a row
The green band is the escapement goal range. The dot is the run's 2026 final count. The orange tick is a typical year's final — the median of the counter's prior seasons; each row states how many seasons and which years. Every percentage says what it is a percentage of, right next to the number it describes.
Kenai Peninsula
Goal range 750,000–1,300,000 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 750,000–1,300,000; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 1,599,217.
Open the full Kenai River Late-run sockeye page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Goal range 140,000–320,000 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the BEG goal range, 140,000–320,000; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 470,679.
Open the full Kasilof River Sockeye page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Goal range 22,000–42,000 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the BEG goal range, 22,000–42,000; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 38,739.
Open the full Russian River Sockeye — early run page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Goal range 44,000–85,000 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 44,000–85,000; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 64,585.
Open the full Russian River Sockeye — late run page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Goal range 3,200–6,400 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 3,200–6,400; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 4,040.
Open the full Anchor River Chinook page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Mat-Su & Susitna
Goal range 9,000–18,000 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 9,000–18,000; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 11,356.
In 2026 the Deshka weir flooded from mid-July into early August and was damaged on August 5 (project's own daily notes) — passage in that window went uncounted, so the 2026 total is best read as a minimum.
Open the full Deshka River Chinook page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Goal range 2,100–4,300 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 13 seasons (2013–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 2,100–4,300; dashed line: typical final (median of 13 seasons (2013–2025)), 2,424.
The weir was moved upstream to river mile 39.5 in 2025 after high water damaged the old mile-32.5 site, so the long series spans two nearby counting sites.
Open the full Little Susitna River Chinook page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Goal range 9,200–17,700 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 9,200–17,700; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 7,583.
The weir was moved upstream to river mile 39.5 in 2025 after high water damaged the old mile-32.5 site, so the long series spans two nearby counting sites.
Open the full Little Susitna River Coho page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 4 seasons (2022–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; dashed line: typical final (median of 4 seasons (2022–2025)), 2,858.
Counts cover Chinook of 500 mm (about 20 inches) and longer only; smaller fish are excluded by design. Some days post negative values — more fish counted moving downstream than up — and those net against the season total.
Open the full Lake Creek Chinook page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Copper River
Goal range 360,000–750,000 · dot: 2026 final · tick: typical final, median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)
Season vs the years — final counts by year
Bars: final count for each year; shaded band: the SEG goal range, 360,000–750,000; dashed line: typical final (median of 15 seasons (2011–2025)), 914,285.
Per ADF&G, the Miles Lake sonar counts all salmon passage; sockeye make up the large majority of each day's count, so the series is representative of sockeye abundance.
Open the full Copper River Sockeye (Miles Lake sonar) page — daily counts, counting method, and counter notes.
Sonar counts are estimates and weir counts are near-censuses; each run's page explains its counting method and carries a locator map.
Explore the counts
Built for poking at history. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game counts these fish every season; this puts the years side by side so you can see when each run actually came through — early, late, big, small — and compare it against a typical year. Pick a river to start.
River — counter
Species — what this counter counts
Show
Seasons on the chart
Builder’s view: on a phone this opens with the two newest seasons and the typical year. Open “Build your chart” above to change anything.
Loading the counts…
Tap or hover the chart to read exact counts.
Drag the window to move through the season, drag an edge to zoom. The labels stay approximate on purpose — exact dates live in the timing table below.
When did each season start, peak through, and end?
Counts are the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s daily counts, as published on the ADF&G Fish Counts pages. A blank on the chart means no count was published for that day — the line bridges it, it is never counted as zero.
Sonar counts (Kenai, Kasilof) are estimates of fish passage; the Little Susitna weir counts fish through it directly. Recent-season counts are preliminary and can be revised.
The typical year is the median of the seasons not on the chart, so adding or removing a season changes which seasons make up the typical. The label under the switch always names the pool.