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Friday's Harvest in Bristol Bay... A Disappointing 136-Thousand Sockeye

Mike Mason

The Bristol Bay commercial sockeye fishery appears to be dwindling fast as only 136-thousand sockeye were taken Friday across the entire bay. Despite being open to continuous fishing only 100-thousand sockeye were taken Friday in the Nushagak District to push the season total to over 2.7-million. The Naknek-Kvichak District was closed on Friday so the District total is still just 4-million fish. There was just an 8-hour setnet period Friday in the Egegik District and just 12-thousand sockeye were taken. The season total to the Egegik District is still 4.1-million sockeye. The Ugashik District was closed on Friday and the season total is still 1.8-million fish. Friday’s commercial harvest in the Togiak District was 24-thousand sockeye to push the District total to 90.7-thousand fish. The total harvest in Bristol Bay through Friday was just over 13-million sockeye. That’s still about 3.6-million fish short of the pre-season forecast. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that on average there were 270-sockeye per drift delivery Friday in the Nushagak District and the number in the Togiak District was 208. As of 9-am this morning there were 1,337 drift net vessels registered to fish in Bristol Bay. The count in the Naknek-Kvichak District was 533 and that’s expected to increase up to 550 in 48-hours. Currently there are 127 D-boats registered to fish in the Naknek-Kvichak District and that’s expected to increase by 4-vessels in 48-hours. The current vessel count in the Egegik District is 303 and that’s expected to increase to 306-vessels in 48-hours. Currently there are 75 D-boats registered to fish in Egegik. The vessel count in the Nushagak District is 269 and that’s expected to increase up to 278 in 48-hours. Currently there are 48 D-boats registered in the Nushagak District. The vessel count in the Ugashik District is 174 and that’s expected to increase up to 182-vessel in 48-hours. Currently there are 45-D boats registered to fish in the Ugashik District. Now looking at escapement. Another 29.4-thousand sockeye were counted Friday in the Ugashik River to push the season total to 190.5-thousand. That’s still well short of the escapement goal of 500-thousand to 1.2-million. However, Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 80-thousand sockeye in the Ugashik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. Friday’s escapement count to the Egegik River was 19.4-thousand and the season total is 790.6-thousand sockeye. That’s approaching the lower end of the escapement goal of 800-thousand to 1.4-million. Fish and Game is estimating there are another 20-thousand sockeye in the Egegik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. Sockeye escapement to the Kvichak River was counted at 86.3-thousand sockeye on Friday to push the total to 1.5-million. Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 100-thousand sockeye in the Kvichak River that have not yet been counted as escapement. Another 13.8-thousand sockeye were counted in the Naknek River on Friday and the season total is now 561.3-thousand. That’s still well short of the escapement goal of 800-thousand to 1.4-million fish. Sockeye escapement to the Igushik River was counted at 29-thousand fish to push the total to over 254.2-thousand. Nushagak River sockeye escapement was counted at 33.5-thousand fish on Friday to push the total to 819.1-thousand sockeye. Wood River escapement was counted at 39.7-thousand sockeye to push the total to just over 1-million fish. Another 4.1-thousand sockeye were counted Friday to the Togiak River and the season total is now over 14.8-thousand. Now looking at the gear splits. In the Ugashik District the split is 95-percent drift and 4.8-percent set. In the Egegik District the split is 85.5-percent drift and 14.5-percent set. In the Naknek-Kvichak District the split is 82.8-percent drift, 8.6-percent Naknek set and 8.5-percent Kvichak set. In the Nushagak District the split is 78.4-percent drift, 16.2-percent Nushagak set and 5.4-percent Igushik set. The total run to Bristol Bay through Friday is 18.4-million sockeye… including the harvest, escapement and the in-river estimates. That’s still well short of the pre-season forecast of a run of 26.3-million. The daily run summary can be found on the ADF&G Bristol Bay website and the summaries are posted at the Fish and Game offices in Dillingham and King Salmon.