Aside from the King vs. Sockeye debate, and the possibility of previously frozen (and I've been eaten fish including salmon often and long enough to have an eye for the once frozen, as well as credible smell and touch judgement of relative freshness), there does seem to be more than a hint here that some purveyors, especially "Fishmongers to the elite", may be pricing the product under the "Whatever the market will bear!" maxim....

As opposed to pricing it how?

here in dc, fish at balducci (say toothfish) is $2-2.50 an oz. the same fish from the same purveyor, delivered the same day(same batch, same truck) and of the same quality is 0.90-0.75 an oz at H-mart, and a buck an oz at harris teeter. the bearing of the market also has to do with the marketing and the clientele.and the service is a lot better at h-mart.

Copper river coho $8.99
 

worth the caps. at costco brandywine md. side weighed 1.67lbs. will feed the fresh sordfish to the racoons.

Returned to Santa Monica Seafood today for Copper River Salmon. It was still $39.00 a pound. CR Sockeye was $14.00. I detest Sockeye. I wound up buying the Wild King Salmon for $29.00 a pound. It was so fresh and delicious. I am no longer convinced that the Copper River Wild is worth $10.00 more a pound.

Same price at Costco in Spokane, WA.

$8.99 at Winter Park, FL yesterday too.

The HEB (Texas) CRS is Sockeye, down to $7.97 in Houston Friday. The man behind the counter claimed that the market had been absolutely flooded, and he had marked his down to $7.97 lb, the same as "Atlantic Farm". For $7.97, I'm happy with fresh Sockeye.

I am headed to Chitina to dip-net for reds this weekend. I hope to put 20 in the freezer. I'll smoke the rest.
The Copper River "personal use" fishery is not for the faint of heart. You climb down a rocky cliff above the river and use a 4 foot in diameter net on the end of a 20 foot pole to scoop the salmon out of the water as they swim upstream. The 38 degree water is moving at better than 15 knots through a glacier carved canyon. If you fall in, your body will never be found. Required equipment includes a strong rope to anchor yourself to a tree or other object at the top of the riverbank.
I for one am glad that fish farming is illegal here in Alaska. Too many problems with disease and cross breeding with our wild fish. Farmed salmon tastes like the processed fish food (cannery waste) that it is fed.

mid may start for 2013.

http://copperriversalmon.org/press/p...almon-forecast

2013 Copper River salmon
 

season started may 16. has sort of turned into a yahoo/facebook thing. next week should see the kardashians eating copper river salmon, then we will know it really is CRS season.. i do not think the salmon has yet reached us in dc.

Tomorrow is Santa Monica Seafood after Santa Monica Farmer's Market. SM Seafood always has the earliest catch. Will post prices.

If it gets a premium price I'd bet it's near you already.

It probably shows up at stores less than two days from being caught thanks to air freight.

http://copperriversalmon.org/locate

Thanks for the link. Shows that SM Seafood has it.:)

The first planeload left Cordova on May 17 and some of it immediately departed for more eastwardly locations... I can't imagine why you wouldn't yet have it in DC?