Cumulative harvest across the bay is now 41 million. The Kvichak has met its minimum escapement of 2 million fish, and escapement in the Igushik finally jumped yesterday. Egegik and Naknek fleets slowed down slightly yesterday, but Ugashik had another good day of fishing, and the district will likely meet the minimum of half a million.
The Nushagak District’s harvest is continuing to taper off. The daily catch was 47,000 yesterday. The total is now 14.65 million – about 10 million under last year’s total harvest, but more than 2 million over the 2017 harvest, which had been the second largest harvest in the district's history until this year.
Escapement across the district was 45,300 for a total of 2.8 million – about 800,000 over the forecasted escapement for the district. The total run is now 17.4 million.
Escapement in the Igushik has finally picked up. 22,350 fish passed the tower yesterday, for a total of 87,900. In the Wood, 19,200 fish escaped for a cumulative of 2 million. And the Nushagak’s escapement was very low, at 3,700 for a total of 675,500.
Harvest in Togiak was higher – the fleet there hauled in 49,000 fish yesterday, bringing the cumulative to 527,800. Escapement was 9,200 yesterday, pushing the total over 100,000 to 108,800. The total run in Togiak is now 636,500.
The Naknek-Kvichak hauled in 183,000 yesterday for a cumulative 11 million. That is more than 2 million over the district’s catch last year. District-wide escapement was 387,800 for a total of 5.6 million.
219,800 fish escaped up the Kvichak yesterday. That means it has finally met its minimum escapement goal of 2 million. The Naknek counted 78,700 fish for a cumulative of 2.8 million. The Alagnak counted 89,300 for a total of 735,200.
The total run for the Naknek-Kvichak is 16.7 million.
Egegik brought in 245,000 yesterday. The cumulative is now 14.2 million. That puts it at the largest harvest for the district since 1995, when the harvest was 14.4 million. The district’s biggest cumulative harvest was 21.6 million in 1993. Daily escapement was 40,500 for a total of 2.26 million. The total run there is 16.4 million.
Escapement in Ugashik has picked up; it was 126,500 yesterday for a total of 350,200. That push went a long way toward meeting the district’s minimum escapement of 500,000.
Across the bay, the total run is now 52.5 million. Cumulative harvest is now 41 million – only 300,000 short of last year’s total harvest. And escapement is now at 11.1 million. Last year’s bay-wide escapement was 21 million. The largest commercial harvest to date was 44 million in 1995.
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Contact the author at isabelle@kdlg.org 907-842-2200.
