Alaska's summer salmon season officially kicked off on May 13, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. From now through October, Alaskans project to harvest 137 million wild Alaska salmon.

Alaska is home to five species of wild salmon: king, coho, keta, pink and sockeye (pictured, below). Alaska supplies more than 90 percent of the wild salmon harvested in North America. All salmon in Alaska are wild, which allows them to mature at a natural pace and swim off of Alaska's 34,000-mile coastline. The flavor and color characteristics of wild Alaska salmon come from feeding on their natural diet of marine organisms and the texture from annual migrations in the cold North Pacific.

For more information about the five species of Alaska salmon including cooking tips, detailed nutritional profiles, harvest methods and recipes, visit www.alaskaseafood.org.
king salmon

coho salmon
keta salmon
pink salmon
sockeye salmon