Pink salmon

Pink salmon is a wild-caught Pacific salmon with a short and highly regular two-year life cycle. It hatches in freshwater streams and rivers, and the fry move almost immediately to estuarine and marine waters. After spending about 1,5 years feeding at sea, the fish return to their natal rivers from August to October to spawn and die. This strict even-year and odd-year cycle is one of the defining commercial features of the species.

Pink salmon is sold as whole fish, HG, and fillets, and it remains the classic raw material for canned salmon. It is also well suited for steaks production, made of pale meat color raw material, and is also highly valued for its roe, with pink salmon roe being one of the leading categories alongside chum salmon roe.

In the North Pacific commercial fishery, the dominant fishing nations are Russia and the United States, with Japan and Canada also being important participants. Pink salmon is the largest species by catch volume in the regional salmon fisheries.