Another 66-Thousand Sockeye Added to the Bristol Bay Total on Tuesday

The commercial harvest of sockeye in Bristol Bay continues to dwindle day-by-day as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is pulling counting towers. Just 66-thousand sockeye were harvested Tuesday in Bristol Bay. 20-thousand fish were taken in the Naknek-Kvichak District, 13-thousand in the Ugashik District, 14-thousand in the Egegik District, 4-thousand in the Nushagak District, and 15-thousand in the Togiak District. The total Bay-wide harvest through Tuesday is over 15.4-million sockeye. Fish and Game reports that on average there were 155-sockeye per delivery in the Ugashik District on Tuesday while the number was 120 in the Egegik District. The delivery number in the Naknek-Kvichak District was 106 and it was 79 in the Nushagak District. The delivery number in the Togiak District was 100. The only river in Bristol Bay that has not met or exceeded its escapement goal is the Togiak River where another 3-thousand sockeye were counted on Tuesday to push the season total to over 50.7-thousand fish. That’s still short of the escapement goal of 150-thousand sockeye. The counting towers have been pulled from the Egegik, Kvichak, Naknek, and Wood Rivers while the towers are still operating on the Ugashik, Togiak and Igushik Rivers. Escapement is counted to the Nushagak River using sonar counting equipment set up near Portage Creek and that counting operation is expected to stay up and running well into August. 2 of the counted rivers in the Nushagak District exceeded their escapement goals this year. The escapement goal for the Igushik River is between 150 to 300-thousand sockeye and through Tuesday total escapement was counted at over 379-thousand fish. The escapement goal for sockeye to the Nushagak River is between 370 to 840-thousand fish and through Tuesday the escapement count was over 888-thousand sockeye. Through Tuesday the total run to Bristol Bay was counted at over 22.8-million sockeye.