Jack Darrell
Fisheries ReporterJack Darrell is a reporter for KDLG working on the Bristol Bay Fisheries Report. He is passionate about sustainable fisheries and local stories that connect communities and explore the intersections of class, culture, and undersea creatures.
Previously, Jack graduated from St. Mary's College with a degree in English and Environmental Science and has worked as a farmhand in northern New Mexico and with the SlackWater Center, a regional oral history project. He has also reported for The Atlantic, Earth Island Journal, and Hakai Magazine.
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Another big harvest day Saturday in a weekend of banner late-season catch numbers for Naknek-Kvichak fleets. Total haul across the bay yesterday was 2 million fish. The total season catch is now at 33 million of a 44 million fish run. Though it remains to be seen how many fish are behind this shocking pulse, the season’s forecast is an estimated 51 million fish run. Escapement yesterday was 540,000.
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Bristol Bay sockeye populations are booming, but what is the tipping point?
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The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is tasked with managing data on the most productive wild salmon fishery in the world. That means managing an incredible amount of data - everything from tracking the enormous runs of tens of millions of fish, down to scales, size and weight of individual salmon. That individual data is collected by Fish and Game techs who go out each tide and sample hundreds of fish at the docks of the processors.
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The total bay-wide harvest kept climbing after the surprising haul Thursday. Friday’s harvest was a staggering nearly 3 million fish, making it unequivocally the biggest haul of the season. Most of those fish came from Naknek-Kvichak, cementing some of the largest late-season catch numbers in recent memory. Escapement yesterday, though, was 706,000.
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Just when we thought the run was slowing down, Thursday was the second biggest harvest day of the season to date with 2.5 million fish hauled in bay-wide. Naknek-Kvichak fleets caught 1.2 million of that. Escapement was also a strong 1.2 million. The total run is now 37 million fish.
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Does the rain and cold this year mean a later salmon run and a delayed season?
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The bay-wide catch slowed down some on Wednesday, but still almost half a million fish were caught yesterday. Almost half of that was in Egegik with 216,000 fish followed by the Naknek-Kvichak. The total run is now at 34.5 million.
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The bay-wide harvest dropped somewhat Tuesday with 723,000 fish hauled in. Catches were about neck-in-neck in Egegik, Naknek, and the Nushagak with around a quarter million fish each. The bay-wide escapement is at 8 million fish. The total run is at 32.7 million.
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Bristol Bay fleets had another strong harvest day Monday with 1.8 million fish caught bay-wide. The biggest catch was in the Nushagak, followed closely by the Naknek-Kvichak. Escapement is at 7.5 million fish, and the total bay-wide run is at 31.1 million.
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Bristol Bay fleets saw a big push of fish Sunday harvesting 1.3 million fish, after somewhat of a drop the day before. Naknek-Kvichak fleets had the biggest haul with 570,000 fish, followed by the Nushagak. The bay-wide total catch is now 21.5 million, and the total run is at 29 million.