Authorities identify man who died after fishing boat sinks in Nushagak
Authorities today identified the deceased as Lance Eric Norby, 45, of Arlington, Texas. He captained the F/V Pneuma. Norby's next of kin has been notified.
Alaska State Troopersreport receiving a call around 5 a.m. Thursday morning that a commercial vessel was taking on water. Two wildlife troopers responded immediately. Before they got there, they heard reports that the three people on board were in the water.
The two other people on board survived. Authorities credit Good Samaritans on the scene with helping in the rescue.
The Nushagak District broke its single-day harvest record two days in a row
On June 30, the fleet harvested 1.7 million sockeye. It has already broken that record with a total catch of 1.8 million on July 1.
Tim Sands, the district’s manager, admited he wasn’t surprised.
“I think, really, a bigger chunk of those fish were caught on June 30," he said. "We had tremendous fishing early in the morning, then we had a closure and then opened again at 6 p.m. on June 30, then a lot of those fish caught after 6 p.m. weren’t delivered until after midnight so they count for July 1st .”
Sands said the evening push likely put the June 30 catch at around 2 million, but some probably didn’t deliver those fish until the following morning.
“It’s a mass and reporting thing, but I think really that we probably had more than 2 million fish caught on June 30 and then just some carryover into July 1. But either way, we’re just -- we’re happy that the fish are coming in,” he said.
The fleet is able to harvest record numbers now not only because of the size of the run, but partly also because of the timing.
Since it’s relatively early in the season, processors aren’t burdened by large deliveries from other districts in the bay; yesterday, the combined harvest from other districts was under 600,000 fish. In the past, when there were big harvests around the bay, processors have limited the fishing time for their fleets when they didn’t have the capacity to process all the fish.
With two record-breaking days, Sands said the district will likely smash the Nushagak’s preseason forecast of 15 million.
“Right now we’re at 9 million, so we’re more than halfway way there and we don’t think we are at the halfway of the run mark yet so we’re feeling pretty strongly and pretty confident we will go over 20 million for the Nushagak run,” he said.
Sockeye escapement looks good, and even the king run looks better after a rough start, Sands said: He thinks the large storm pushed more up the river.
With so much excitement, Sands has heard that people are losing nets, potentially due to rough waters or boats laden with fish, and reminds folks to stay safe.
Never fear, Naknek's fish will appear
The Nushagak’s fleet has hauled in over 1.7 million fish per day for the past two days. Egegik’s fleet has had a steady flow of fish.The Naknek-Kvichak, meanwhile, has had a comparatively slow season so far. Alaska Department of Fish and Game management biologist, Travis Elison, said that pattern is typical..
“The Naknek/Kvichak district has a later run time than the Nushagak and Egegik districts," Elison explained. "The Naknek seems to be about two days behind the Nushagak. Naknek escapement has really gone up just in the last 24 hours. Starting the evening of July 1st we started seeing big numbers up there; about ten-thousand fish passing per hour.”
Elison said managers will likely open up fishing within the week.
“We are not worried about low escapement, we’re actually more worried about high escapement right now. So there’s going to be a lot of fishing opportunities here,” he said.
Elison expects to see more fish through the weekend, with surges by the middle of next week, on the 6th, 7th, and 8th. Never fear, Naknek fishermen, the fish are here!
How does genetic testing tell us where fish are going?
Everyone gets excited about the Port Moller stock composition estimates -- rightly so, as they give us a sense of how much of the run is headed where.
But how do these genetics actually work? How does the testing translate into stock composition estimates? We talked to fisheries geneticist Tyler Dann.
A presentation of how genetics work in stock compositions
Feel better, fishermen!
The fish are flying, you're picking the net like some people pick a banjo -- in all that action, you get a cut. What should you do? On this Friday’s check-up, Dr. Cathy Hyndman talks about some simple precautions for all the fish pickers out there.
Coffee with Kenzie
Coffee with Kenzie is a weekly segment hosted by our east side fish reporter, Mackenzie Mancuso. This week, Kenzie caught up with William Regan, better known as Sonny. Sonny is a lifelong resident of the Bristol Bay region, and is known around town as the expert on all things subsistence.
Messages to the fleet
Trying to get a hold of Ryan Andrew on F/V John O. If he could call either his dad or his sister, it’s very urgent.
F /Maverick, have a great season!
To the crew of the F/V Reflections
Sending prayers of good fortune and safety to the captain and crew of reflections 2 from Robbi. Go get 'um guys!
Birthday shout out to Cleland Moses may god bless you on your special day. We love you, from your mom, dad and family
Thank you kdlg for giving me the opportunity to send a message to the fishermen and women of the Great Bristol bay area. I hope that you are all safe, healthy and most of all maintain a positive spirit through your season on the Bay. Captains keep pushing forward and lead your team to a victorious season by coming home with the most respect from your Crew. Deckhands grind hard and don't let up. The payoff is very rewarding and an accomplishment of a season enduring the paces of the Great Bristol bay is tough work nobody can take away. Processor's, much appreciation for the long hours on cold wet floors and time away from family. The fishery cannot take place without you. Last I would like to thank the great first nations of bristol bay and the local community who are the core of the fishery. Much respect to you... With love and respect to each and every one of you partaking in the greatest fishery on mother earth. Your friend from the Nez Perce nation fishing the mighty Columbia river.
Wesley Oatman and family"
The numbers
The baywide run is at 13.6 million sockeye. Around the bay, 505,171 fish escaped yesterday, for a total of 4.5 million. Daily catch was 2.5 million. The Nushagak's catch is over 60% of the bay's total harvest of 9 million fish so far this season.
Nushagak District
Another record daily harvest in the Nushagak District, as the fleet hauled in 1,824,000 sockeye. That’s the second day in a row where fishermen harvested more than 1.7 million fish. There was an average of more than 1,800 sockeye per drift delivery.
The fleet has also caught 2,152 kings so far.
Escapement was 359,761, for a season total of 3.5 million.
The drift fleet has harvested 84% of the season’s cumulative catch, while Nushagak set netters have caught 11.5% and Igushik set netters hauled in around 2%.
Nushagak River
In the Nushagak River, 190,627 sockeye escaped yesterday. That brings the season total to just over 2 million.
The Chinook run was 5,829, and the total is at 32,080.
There was a big chum run yesterday -- 10,760 passed the counting tower, bringing total escapement to 55,208.
Wood River
In the Wood River, 149,802 sockeye passed the counting tower yesterday, and another 70,884 passed through this morning, bringing the Wood River total to 1.4 million.
Igushik River
19,300 fish ran up the Igushik River yesterday, and another 8,958 swam up as of 6 a.m. this morning, bringing the total to 128,099.
Togiak
Over in Togiak, 1,700 fish were caught bringing that season total to 16,428.
Naknek-Kvichak
Things in the Naknek-Kvichak District continue to be on the up and up. The district’s total run topped one million yesterday.
The fleet caught 244,000 fish yesterday, with an average of around 320 sockeye per drift deliver. The total harvest is 653,766.
Of that cumulative harvest, the district’s drift fleet caught about 62%, Naknek set netters harvested around 20%, and Kvichak set netters caught the remaining 18%.
Total escapement yesterday was 107,352 bringing that total to 335,130.
Naknek River
In the Naknek River, 66,570 escaped. The total escapement is now 153,246.
Kvichak River
The Kvichak River saw 30,000 fish bringing that total to 132,216. The in-river estimate for the Kvichak River is 40,000.
Alagnak River
We finally have numbers for the Alagnak -- 10,782 fish escaped yesterday, bringing that river’s total to 49,668.
Egegik
Egegik remained steady as the fleet harvested 300,000 yesterday, and an average of 820 sockeye per drift delivery, bringing the total catch to 2.42 million.
The drift fleet has harvested around 84% of the season’s total harvest, while set netters have hauled in 16%.
33,954 fish swam upriver, which brings Egegik’s total escapement to 715,092.
The total run for the Egegik District is 3.1 million.
Ugashik
Ugashik fishermen harvested 169,000 fish yesterday. Their average haul per drift delivery was around 1,820 -- right up there with the Nushagak’s fleet. Ugashik’s total catch is at 394,783.
The drift fleet has caught 93% of the district’s cumulative harvest, and set netters caught 7%.
4,100 fish escaped in the Ugashik for a total of 22,452. The total run in the district this season is 417,235.
Chignik
At the Chignik River, 7,747 fish passed through the weir yesterday. Another 138 fish passed the weir by 9 a.m. this morning. The sockeye run is now at 173,847.
The early season run is 164,464 and the late run is at 9,383.
Area M
Yesterday Area M fleets caught about 47,000 fish across all species, for a total harvest of 7.5 million.
The fleet caught 21 Chinook, for a total of 2,946. The fleet's biggest catch was the 46,739 sockeye it hauled on board yesterday -- that total harvest is at 3.5 million. Just 2 pinks were caught -- the total pink harvest sits at 3.25 million. The total coho catch this season is at 801,761.
Port Moller Test Fishery
Port Moller didn’t fish yesterday. One vessel went out last night and the other is out today.
But we do have the 7th stock composition estimate for June 28-29
Stock Composition Estimate #7 from June 28-29
The results indicate 31% of fish are heading to -- you guessed -- the Nushagak River.
The Wood River might slow down a bit -- it should see 4.7% and the Igushik estimate is 6.3%.
16.3% of the run is heading toward Ugashik, and 12.1% to Egegik.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, the Naknek River should see almost 8% of fish heading their way and Kvichak will see around double that with 16%. The Alagnak River will see just .1% of this run.
The Kuskokwim River should see 1% of the fish and Togiak has about .1% heading that way.
Vessel registration Friday July 2 9:00 a.m. to Sunday July 4 9:00 a.m.
Not much elbow room in the Nushagak -- there are 559 boats registered in the district, 184 of which are D-boats. That decreases by one Sunday morning to 558 boats, while D-boats stay at 184.
Next up is Egegik, where 329 boats are registered, 101 of which are D-boats. That drops a bit on Sunday, with 325 boats -- D-boats stay the same.
In the Naknek-Kvichak, boat registrations are up to 293 -- 59 of those are D-boats. On Sunday, those numbers go up to 308 boats, 63 of which are D-boats.
In Ugashik, there are 89 boats registered, and 43 of those are D-boats. A slight increase there on Sunday, with 91 vessels, 46 of which are D-boats.
Finally, there are 27 boats registered in Togiak. That fleet will grow by 2 on Sunday, to 29 vessels.
Contact the fish team at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
