Egegik’s run is slowly picking up steam, though effort is a little lower than normal. The Nushagak is coming along, but things are a bit languid there as well. The daily run summaries from Fish and Game are up and running, and we have the first stock composition numbers from Port Moller.
Nushagak
The daily king count at the Nushagak sonar was 1,290 on Sunday, bringing the total count today to 10,610 fish. The number of sockeye counted at the sonar site was 7,313 bringing the total count to 58,568 fish. Chums were counted at 1,428 bringing the total count to 10,580 fish.
Wood River
Today’s Wood River count is 2,278, bringing that total to 37,368 fish.
Igushik
The Igushik tower did not make its schedule on Sunday -- it arrived this morning.
Egegik
12,762 fish have escaped up the Egegik river so far, for a cumulative escapement of 21,432. The total run is at 78,893.
Naknek/Kvichak
The daily escapement in the Naknek/Kvichak was 9,084 bringing the total count to 13,836.
Togiak
The fleet in Togiak has caught 24 fish -- no changes there.
Chignik Weir Counts
As of 9:00 a.m. this morning, 6 sockeye had passed through the Chignik Weir. Yesterday’s count was 3,361, bringing the total count to 25,824. The total early run now sits at 25,560 and the late run is 264.
Area M
Since there were no commercial openers in Area M yesterday, the harvest numbers there haven’t changed.
Port Moller
Over at the Port Moller Test Fishery, yesterday’s conditions were unfishable due to winds and seas. The crews spent the day repairing gear and getting ready for an early start to the weekend.
Conditions over the past few days have looked good. To get the vessels onto the same schedule, the F/V Americanus will go out to mid-transect and fish south, spending the night at S2. The Ocean Cat will start to fish mid-transect and work north; then fish back toward the Americanus on Tuesday.
Technician Michael Link says Saturday’s conditions on the transect were the worst since he started working on the project 1998. The barometric pressure gradient over the south end of the transect late Sunday night was "really something," according to Link; the Ocean Cat steamed through 17-20 foot seas to get through it.
Stock Composition Estimates
ADF&G’s Gene Conservation Laboratory have the first round of stock composition results from June 19 and 20:
They show the biggest push going to the Nushagak district -- Almost 22% are headed to the Wood River, and 18% are going to the Nushagak. That’s closely followed by Egegik, where 17% of the sample size was headed. 15.5% are going to the Naknek, 7% to Ugashik, and 7% to the Igushik.
The tissue and scale samples from fishing on Friday, arrived in Port Moller around 4 a.m. Sunday, were on a Lake Clark Air plane by 12:30 p.m., and arrived in Anchorage in the last hour – a record of less than 24 hours since the last fish in this sample came out of the water at Station 8.
"We’ll take victories in all forms these days," Link said.
Permit registration on June 22 9:00 a.m. and June 24 9:00 a.m.
Taking a look at permit and vessel numbers now, we’re seeing some increases in both categories on the west side.
As of today, in the Nushagak the registration totals were 213 permits and 177 vessels, and it will go up to 261 permits and 215 vessels on Wednesday. The number of D-Boats is currently 36 and will go up to 45 on Wednesday morning.
Registrations in Togiak will remain the same, with 22 permits, and 22 vessels both today and Wednesday. There are zero D-Boats in the Togiak District.
As of today at 9:00 am Egegik had 267 permits and 214 vessels. That will go up to 286 permits, and 229 vessels on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. There are 53 D-Boats today, and there’ll be 57 on Wednesday.
As of 9:00 a.m. in the Naknek-Kvichak, there are 94 permits, and 84 vessels as of today at 9 am, and will go up to 99 permits to 88 vessels on Wednesday. The number of D-Boats and it will go up from 10 to 11 in the 48 hour transfer period.
Finally, in the Ugashik, there are 7 permits and 6 vessels, and it will remain the same both today and Wednesday also. There is 1 D-Boat in the Ugashik, and one will remain until Wednesday.
At the end of last week, the state reported seven new cases in the combined Bristol Bay and Lake and Peninsula Borough reporting regions. But that didn’t line up with the numbers published by local clinics. I talked to KDLG’s Sage Smiley about what got lost in translation.
Silver Bay Seafoods confirms three of last week's cases were at its Naknek plant
Silver Bay Seafoods has confirmed that at least two of the borough’s backlogged results were from Silver Bay’s processing plant in Naknek. Silver Bay had an additional positive test result on the 13, before the ethernet outage.
Abby Fredrick, the external affairs liaison with Silver Bay, said in a statement, “During routine testing, we received 3 confirmed positive test results for asymptomatic processing workers who were in quarantine on-site and were not in contact with the community.”
Fredrick said the employees were isolated and chartered out of Naknek to receive care in Anchorage. She added that Silver Bay conducted additional testing of staff on site and that all of those results came back negative.
According to Fredrick, the first case tested positive on June 13, was then isolated and left Naknek on the 14, and the two others tested positive on the 17th and were isolated and flown to Anchorage on the 18.
The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association is helping finance three different ice providers this year:
If fishermen cannot get ice from their processor, they can purchase ice from the following places. BBRSDA sent over this list, and said to inquire with each supplier regarding price:
Nushagak
Bristol Maid - Clark's Point - can be contacted on VHF Channel 73 or 78
Northline Seafoods Barge - Schooners Channel opposite the flats - the orange flag & orange light will indicate that ice available for other fleets, Northline is providing slush ice as opposed to traditional flake ice. They can be contacted on VHF Channel 12
City of Dillingham Boat Harbor - can be contacted on VHF Channel 16 or 907.842.1069
Naknek-Kvichak:
Bristol Lady - Y in Naknek - can be contacted on VHF Channel 73 or 78 - 907.246.6860
Egegik:
Honua (BBEDC contracted vessel) - 907.843.1937 - Red Bluff - slush ice
Ugashik:
Coho (BBEDC contracted vessel) - 907.843.1937 - North of Tender Row - slush ice Seabird (E&E Foods tender) - near Dago Creek - can be contacted on VHF Channel 79
If you have ice available for sale in Bristol Bay, please contact Andy Wink at BBRSDA at andy@bbrsda.com or 907-677-2374.
A Seattle-based processor was sued for false imprisonment and failing to pay workers travelling to a Bristol Bay cannery after more than 100 of them were forced to quarantine in a Los Angeles hotel without pay -- or lose their jobs. That was after three people tested positive for COVID-19. The complaint was first reported by the L.A. Times.
Messages to the fleet:
To Capt. Doug Morgan, F/V Miss Emma
Doug! Great news! Your 4th of July food drive is a hit! We've reached the burger patty and cheese goals. Also the refreshment goal. The only thing we're short on, is buns. We're going to do everything we can to help you reach your bun goal! Stay safe out there, we miss you.
THE ORACLE
Thanks for listening! If you’d like to get in touch or give some perspective, give us a call 842-5281 or send an email to fish@kdlg.org
