The sockeye run is pulsing up the Nushagak. Set netters and drifters in the Nushagak had their first openers this afternoon, and Igushik fishermen had openers as well. But this first big surge of sockeye doesn’t mean the fleet will be fishing every tide.
We spoke with Tim Sands, area management biologist, who said managers are still focused on king conservation.
This season, the Port Moller Test Fishery has a new genetic testing lab on board the R/V Ocean Cat. Researchers say the lab is the first of its kind. As KDLG’s Stephanie Maltarich reports, it could speed up genetic testing during the salmon run.
Port Moller Test Fishery experiments with new onboard genetic testing
Slow start to the Naknek-Kvichak runs isn't surprising
Over to the East Side now, where the season is off to a slow start. For more, we caught up with KDLG’s Mackenzie Mancuso.
Stormy weather
Climate Specialist Rick Thoman, with the UAF Center for Climate Assessment and Policy, gives us the rundown of Bristol Bay’s weather heading into the weekend. Spoiler alert: rain.
Messages to the fleet
Doug, just passing along an important messege. Records show your vehicle warranty has expired. They say your mini-bike is no problem. Your guardian angel must be looking after you!
Doug's brother
The numbers
The Bristol Bay total run is at 820,625. Total catch sits at 248,431 and total escapement is at 572,194. The total run is more than double what it was at this time last year, when it had just reached 336,423.
Fish started cruising up the rivers in the Nushagak yesterday with runs on the Wood River surpassing the 100,000 escapement goal.
Nushagak
As projected by Port Moller, a lot of fish have arrived in the Nushagak District.
A surge of 186,880 sockeye swam up the Nushagak River yesterday. That’s more than half of the river’s total escapement of at 277,036. It’s also more than 43 times the Tuesday's daily escapement of 4,283.
Yesterday, 2,228 kings swam up the river. The total king run is now 7,814. The chum run was at 2,244, bringing the chum total to 7662. On June 23 of last year, Nushagak’s total run was 161,155.
We will have harvest numbers for listeners tomorrow.
Wood River
The Wood River finally made its escapement goal last night as 89,982 swam by. Another 16,212 fish passed the tower again by 6 a.m. this morning bringing the Wood River total to 138,000 this morning.
Togiak
Togiak’s fleet fished again yesterday, hauling in 200 fish. That brings the total catch to 1,400. In 2020, the total catch on this date came to 362.
Naknek-Kvichak
Naknek River saw 66 fish swim by, bringing the total escapement to 1,050. The total run for the district is 1,694.
No fish were caught by commercial fleets in the Naknek-Kvichak yesterday. The total harvest remains at 644.
The Naknek/Kvichak numbers are trailing 2020 -- at this time last year, the run came to 40,326.
Egegik
Egegik still has the largest run in the bay so far. Yesterday, 31,098 fish escaped up the river, bringing the total to 183,732. The cumulative run in the Egegik District is at 430,119. No fish were harvested yesterday, so total harvest is still at 246,387.
Egegik’s run is ahead of where it was at this time last year. Last year the district total run came in at 134,580 -- about a fourth of where it is now.
Ugashik
The Ugashik District still isn’t reporting numbers.
Chignik Weir Counts
At the Chignik River, 1,170 sockeye swam past the weir yesterday. The total escapement there is now 82,404. Escapement so far this season is tracking a little higher than in 2018, although it’s still behind where the run was in 2019 -- the last year Chignik had a commercial opener.
Area M
Yesterday, 6 kings were harvested, bringing the season total to 1,964. Sockeye harvests came to 108,357 with a season total of nearly 2.8 million. Pinks were 155,284. And 43,219 chums were harvested bringing the total to 639,327.
Port Moller Test Fishery
No numbers from Port Moller today.
Winds on the transect yesterday gusted into the mid-40s, so the R/V Pandalus and Ocean Cat were anchored up and didn’t fish, according to director Michael Link.
Link said the test fishery has had “amazingly great coverage of station-days and the stock composition results so far this year, despite Murphy’s Law and early high catches.”
Link also wanted to give “A serious 'shout out' to those on the two vessels and in the two gene labs (Anchorage and Ocean Cat). What a team.”
Permit registration on June 24 9:00 a.m. to June 26 at 9:00 a.m.
As of 9 a.m. this morning, there are 680 boats registered around the bay, 189 of which are D-boats. There will be a large jump Saturday with 969 boats, 312 of which will be D-boats.
Let’s take a look at where those boats are, and where they’re going:
The Nushagak opened today and jumped ahead with the most registered boats -- 295, and 80 of those are D-boats. On Saturday, that will increase to 551 boats, 198 of which will be D-boats -- by far the most in the bay.
Egegik has slowed down a bit; 280 boats are fishing there, 93 of those are D-boats. On Saturday morning, there will be a slight increase to 298 boats and 95 D-boats.
In the Naknek-Kvichak, 62 boats are registered, 4 of which are D-boats -- the same as yesterday. On Saturday, that will increase to 68 vessels. The number of D-boats will remain at 4.
The Ugashik has 23 boats, 12 of which are D-boats. Ugashik numbers will bump up slightly on Saturday to 26 boats and 14 D-boats.
Finally, in Togiak, 20 boats are fishing. Six boats will join that fleet on Saturday, bringing the total to 26.
Contact the fish team at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
