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Naknek-Kvichak Sockeye Run Came in 32% Below Preseason Forecast

Michael Link

The 2013 salmon season summary from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game shows that the sockeye run to the Naknek-Kvichak District came in 32-percent below the preseason forecast and the harvest was well below the 20-year average. The Naknek-Kvichak District featured a sockeye run this year of 7.8-million fish.    That was well below the forecast of 10.6-million. The established escapement goal for the Kvichak River is between 2 to 10 million sockeye and actual escapement this year was just over 2-million.  The escapement goal for the Naknek River is between 800-thousand to 1.4-million sockeye and actual escapement was recorded at 938.1-thousand fish. The management plan for the Naknek-Kvichak District calls for an allocation split between the drifters and the setnetters. The called for split is 84-percent of the harvest for the drifters and 16-percent for the setnetters with the setnet percentage split evenly between the Naknek Section setnetters and the setnetters in the Kvichak Section. This year the actual split matched perfectly with the called for split. The commercial harvest this year in the Naknek-Kvichak District was 4.79-million sockeye, which was the largest harvest among the 5 districts in the Bay. That harvest was well below the average harvest in the District over the last 20-years of 7.8-million sockeye. Commercial fishermen in the District also hauled in over 267-thousand chum salmon this year. The details of the 2013 run to the NaknekKvichak District and all of the other commercial fishing districts in the Bay are available in the season summary that was released on Monday.