On June 29 at 4:20pm, the US Coast Guard received a report of a man overboard from the F/V Sandman in the vicinity of Egegik Bay, about 40 miles southwest of Naknek. The Coast Guard searched the area with Alaska State Troopers for several hours by boat and helicopter. They say that the search was suspended at 11:36pm, pending the development of new information.

Hundreds of fishermen across Bristol Bay offload their catch at local processors in Dillingham—the main hub for the busy Nushagak district. But of all the ports across the bay, Dillingham’s holds something unique: for the past 12 years, the city has not enforced any raw fish sales tax whatsoever, missing out on millions of dollars. KDLG’s Ryan Berkoski sat down with Alice Ruby, the mayor of Dillingham, and Chris Maines, the city planner, to talk about what caused this tax hiatus and why it’s back now.

Anticipation is building in the Dillingham harbor as crews get their boats ready. Despite some concerns over processor consolidation and declining king runs, crews seem optimistic about the season’s high base prices and strong sockeye forecasts.

This winter, the Alaska Board of Fisheries passed several new regulations for Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery, including measures in response to declining king salmon populations. That species was first designated as a stock of concern in the Nushagak district in 2022, but the regulations won’t go into effect until mid-July, when the king season is mostly over.

It’s our final show of the season. Marine safety programs rely on a database that tracks commercial fishing deaths, but after mass layoffs at multiple federal agencies, it’s unclear if anyone is updating that info. Economist Gunnar Knapp shares history of seafood processors in Bristol Bay.

The sockeye salmon run is wrapping up in Bristol Bay with zero operational commercial fishing deaths, but after a gutting of the federal workforce, it’s unclear if anyone’s tracking it.

Escapement in the Togiak picked up to its highest so far this season, just 50,000 away from its escapement goal range mid-point. This report is sparse, but tomorrow’s finale should be full of all your favorite fish info.

Thanks to a special bonus run summary from Fish and Game, this report has all the pertinent catch numbers and more. The eastside is still going strong, as the Naknek-Kvichak district held the highest catch and the Alagnak river the greatest escapement.

Less and less fish information is coming in, and this report has baywide total catch numbers and the individual escapement for each river.