The Numbers
The baywide run is now past 16.8 million sockeye. Almost 1.2 million fish escaped yesterday, for a total of 5.8 million. Daily catch was a bit over 1.5 million for a total harvest of 10.5 million fish so far this season.
Nushagak District
The Nushagak District hauled in a respectable one million sockeye yesterday with an average of 974 sockeye per drift delivery.
Escapement was up to 953,766 for a season total of 4,479,834.
The drift fleet has harvested 83% of the season’s cumulative catch, while Nushagak set netters have caught 11.3% and Igushik set netters hauled in around 2%.
Nushagak River
In the Nushagak River, 508,464 sockeye escaped yesterday. That brings the season total to about 2,513,256.
The Chinook run was 1,316, and the total is at 33,396
The chum run is back down, 1,847 passed the counting tower, bringing total escapement to 57,055.
Wood River
Escapement up the Wood River was up yesterday to 416,568, and another 60,432 passed through this morning, bringing the Wood River total to 1.8 million.
Igushik River
Nearly 28,734 fish ran up the Igushik River yesterday, and another 6,372 swam up as of 6 a.m. this morning, bringing the total to 154,128.
Togiak
Togiak’s catch was up to 6,800 fish bringing that season total to 23,268.
Naknek-Kvichak District
Things in the Naknek-Kvichak District seems to have plateaued -- the fleet caught 241,000 fish, with an average up from yesterday to about 436 sockeye per drift delivery. The total harvest is now 894,729 fish.
Of that cumulative harvest, the district’s drift fleet caught about 61%, Naknek set netters harvested around 21%, and Kvichak set netters caught the remaining 18%.
Total escapement yesterday was up - 216,259 fish swam through bringing that total to 567,940.
Naknek River
The Naknek River had the biggest push of the three with 185,382 fish escaping. The total escapement is now 338,628 salmon.
Kvichak River
The Kvichak River saw 27,865 fish bringing that total to 175,632. The in-river estimate for the Kvichak River is 400,000.
Alagnak River
And we finally have numbers for the Alagnak. About 3,012 fish swam up the Alagnak, bringing that river’s total to 52,680.
Egegik
Egegik district harvest was down a bit - 248,000 fish were caught yesterday, and an average of 428 sockeye per drift delivery, bringing the total catch to 2.67 million.
The drift fleet has harvested around 84% of the season’s total harvest, while set netters have hauled in 16%.
25,548 swam up river bringing Egegik’s total escapement to 740,640.
The total run for the Egegik District is 3.4 million.
Ugashik
Ugashik fishermen harvested 0 fish yesterday. Ugashik’s total catch remains at 394,635.
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 Weir Counts
Yesterday, 17,322 sockeye fish passed through the weir and by 9 a.m. this morning another 138 fish passed by. This brings the season total escapement to 191,169.
The early season run is around 178,980 sockeye and the late run is at 12,189 sockeye.
Area M
The Area M commercial salmon fishery is currently closed until 6 a.m. July 6. Total harvest as of yesterday remains around 7.5 million.
Broken into species, a total of nearly 2,946 Chinook have been caught, sockeye total harvest sits at 3.5 million, coho harvest sits at 2,593 fish, pink totals are at 3.2 million, and chum harvest is at 801,761.
Port Moller Test Fishery
Here’s today’s update out of the Port Moller Test Fishery. Researchers say catch indices have dropped since June 29th. They claim it’s unlikely the run was early but the lack of information from June 30 and July 1st make it difficult to make a conclusion.
Stations 2, 16, and 18 caught zero fish.
Station 4 caught 6 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 3 in the 5 1/8. The catch index was 28.
Station 6 caught 1 in the 4 1/2 inch mesh and 0 in the 5 1/8. The catch index was 4.
Station 8 caught 69 fish in the 4 1/2 inch mesh and 58 in the 5 1/8. The catch index is 272.
Station 10 caught 8 in the 4 1/2 inch mesh and 8 in the 5 1/8. The catch index is 69.
Station 12 caught 3 in the 4 1/2 inch mesh and 20 in the 5 1/8. The catch index is 37.
Station 14 caught 6 in the 4 1/2 inch mesh and 15 in the 5 1/8. It had a catch index of 41.
Station 20 caught 4 in the 4 1/2 inch mesh and 1 in the 5 1/8. It had a catch index of 13.
The stock composition should be in Port Moller tomorrow evening.
Vessel registration Saturday July 3 9:00 a.m. to Sunday July 5 9:00 a.m.
Nushagak District seems to be growing a bit -- there are now 569 boats registered in the district, 183 of which are D-boats. That decreases by one Monday morning to 557 boats, while D-boats stay at 185.
Next up is Egegik, where 312 boats are registered, 99 of which are D-boats. That drops a bit on Monday, with 308 boats -- D-boats drop to 97.
In the Naknek-Kvichak, boat registrations are up to 296 — 61 of those are D-boats. On Monday, those numbers go up to 315 boats, 68 of which are D-boats.
In Ugashik, there are 88 boats registered, and 43 of those are D-boats. A slight increase there on Monday, with 96 vessels, 45 of which are D-boats.
Finally, there are 29 boats registered in Togiak. That fleet will stay the same through Monday.
Contact the fish team at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.