Copper River salmon fly in

This year's Copper River salmon began arriving Friday in Seattle, in smaller quantities -- and more expensive -- than in the past because Alaska's weather was harsh as the season opened Thursday.

Russ Casteel, the seafood buyer for Haggen Food & Pharmacy and TOP Food & Drug stores, was in Cordova, Alaska, as the season began for the famously trade-named wild fish.

		AP
	Alaska Airlines co-pilot Mark Awon gets a royal welcome Friday morning at Sea-Tac Airport with the first of this season's Copper River king salmon. Following Awon is Capt. Ken Williams. The flight carried 7,500 pounds of the fish, down from an original estimate of 36,000 pounds because of poor weather in Alaska. The flight was one of four Friday.

"We started the day with 50-knot winds and swells of between 12 and 15 feet," Casteel said in a statement. "Only 50 percent of the fleet was able to get out and fish, and half those boats returned by noon."

The next catch is scheduled for Monday, with fish arriving in Seattle on Tuesday morning. Officials strictly limit the catch to ensure the fish's sustainability.

Haggen and TOP Food will initially sell king salmon fillets for $40 a pound, with that price expected to fall to $20 a pound as more arrives. The initial price on whole sockeyes will be $30 a pound, falling to about $15 a pound.

Most grocery stores with seafood counters are expected to sell Copper River salmon.

For those fish, home is the eponymous 300-mile-long body of water that empties into Prince William Sound at Cordova. They are caught at sea and at the river's mouth as they begin their swim upstream to spawn. The length and strength of the river is said to make for well-muscled fish with large supplies of healthful oil.

Alaska Airlines said it delivered those first Copper River fish Friday morning -- some 7,500 pounds from four seafood processors, brought in on a Boeing 737-400 freighter. The airline said it would bring in 20,000 pounds by the day's end, from Cordova and Anchorage.

Last year, the carrier said, it flew more than 30 million pounds of Alaska seafood to the Lower 48 states and beyond, including up to 1 million pounds of Copper River salmon.