It's the final Fisheries Report of the 2021 season! In our last episode of this astounding season, we talk about subsistence and community. Thanks for tuning in!

In the penultimate episode of the Fisheries Report, we look at the commercial fishery in the year when a record 65 million sockeye returned to Bristol Bay, and hear from managers, fishermen and stakeholders who partook in this astounding season.

Tonight, we take a look at the ecology of the fish and waters surrounding Bristol Bay. The 2021 sockeye run is the largest on record; we dive into why this year was so bountiful in Bristol Bay.

Fish just keep rolling into the bay with another near half million swimming through yesterday. The total run is now past 64 million fish with total…

More than half a million fish returned to the bay yesterday. The total run is at 63.7 million fish. Escapement across the bay is 24.7 million — the third-largest on record. The Naknek-Kvichak hauled in nearly two-thirds of yesterday’s harvest and the Naknek River alone took nearly half of the bay’s escapement yesterday.

Bristol Bay’s 2021 run is the largest on record, at 63.2 million fish. So far, 2021’s total has outplaced the 2018 record by about 300,000 fish. In all, 24.55 million salmon have escaped in rivers across the bay — the third-largest escapement since Fish and Game started counting in 1952.

Bristol Bay’s run is tantalizingly close to breaking the record for the largest run ever to return to the bay. The run of 62.7 million fish is currently the second-largest run ever, less than 200,000 behind the largest run of 2018.

The Nushagak’s sockeye run is the second-largest on record, at 27 million fish. The total bay-wide run is at 62.2 million fish — just 719,000 away from breaking the biggest run on record. Ugashik was the only district to harvest more than 100,000 fish yesterday. The season’s total catch is 38 million fish — so far, the seventh-largest on record.

We’re on the edge of a record year — 61.3 million salmon have returned to Bristol Bay waters. The previous record was set in 2018 with a whopping 62.9 million salmon. Will 2021 be the year we break records once more?

We’ve officially passed 60 million salmon in Bristol Bay waters as of yesterday! The run is slowing down a bit but it’s still anyone’s guess for what the final numbers will look like. Runs today are generally lower yesterday but comparable to most of the week with Ugashik's run continuing to lead the other rivers.