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Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 6, 2018

Austin Fast/KDLG

Kvichak River escapement is in a better position this afternoon than yesterday, but will it be enough to keep the Naknek-Kvichak District open?

All eyes are on the Kvichak River escapement as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game considers closing the Naknek-Kvichak district by Saturday evening to help more fish get up the river. Management biologist, Travis Elison said that the situation looks better today than it did yesterday. The Kvichak posted 75,000 sockeye escapement Thursday, and Elison estimated this afternoon that there were 450,000 fish in-river. A decision about whether or not to close the district could come as early as Saturday.

Paul Salomone, who manages the Egegik and Ugashik Districts, says that Egegik River escapement is looking stronger than it did earlier this week. Cumulative escapement through Thursday was 703,000. The minimum escapement goal for the river is 800,000.

In the Nushagak District, the Igushik River passed its minimum escapement goal yesterday. The districts other two rivers, the Nushagak River and the Wood River, passed theirs earlier in the season. Management biologist Tim Sands estimates that they will all be passed their mid-range goals by the middle of next week. That would make it possible to wave the transfer period for boats moving into the district.

Also on tonight’s show, KDLG’s Austin Fast hopped on a skiff with a set net crew on Independence Day. He takes us along for the ride.

Credit Mitch Borden/KDLG
Salmon push up the Wood River on July 5, 2018.

Catch this program nightly at 6 p.m., 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on AM 670, and online at KDLG.org. (With early broadcasts Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.)

Letters from home to your friends and family in the Bay this summer? Email us at avery@kdlg.org, or call 907-842-5281.

Have feedback, suggestions of something you'd like to hear? Reach Avery Lill / Izzy Ross / Austin Fast / or Mitch Borden (in Naknek).

 

Credit Mitch Borden/KDLG
Nothing but blue skies in Naknek today.
Credit Austin Fast/KDLG
A few sockeye chill in the hold of Matt Crimp's skiff.
Credit Bruce Ilutsik
Nushagak District sunset

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