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Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: June 28, 2019

Alex Hager/KDLG

The Kvichak district is shutting down for two tides in an effort to bolster escapement in the face of warm water temperatures. Egegik’s cumulative harvest has passed one million fish. And Port Moller indices are dramatically different across the transect.

 

We talk with east side management biologist Travis Elison, who says unseasonably warm weather could impact fishing in July.

 

The public comment period for Pebble Mine’s draft environmental review ends on July 1, and Pebble’s permit application will see a few changes after the public comment period ends.

KDLG’s Izzy Ross talked with Pebble CEO Tom Collier about changes to the company’s permit application. Collier said the company would finalize detailed measurements for where the transportation access road would go, and determine possible placement for piers and the pipeline corridor's path. He also discussed land access agreements and the lack of an economic feasibility assessment. Take a listen for more on that conversation.

Credit Isabelle Ross/KDLG
Sockeye salmon.

Yesterday’s catch indices at Port Moller varied widely across the transect, from a daily catch index of 2 at station 8 an index of 139 at station 18. Analyst Scott Raborn says this is unusual.

 

If, like in previous years, the test fishery ended at station 10, the picture of how the run might shape up would be off. By fishing further offshore, the test fishery can provide more insight into how some of the counts from past seasons didn’t give an accurate prediction of the run. Raborn pointed to 2016, when there was a dramatic drop off in the catch index for June 28 and 29. He says the 2 - 10 index has worked well in previous years, like 2011 and 2013, where the inshort catch escapement mimicked Port Moller catch indices. 

The test fishery’s first run projections are expected to come out this weekend. 

Yesterday’s harvest in the Nushagak District included 430,000 sockeye salmon, bringing the cumulative to 2.8 million. The catch also had 971 king salmon for a cumulative of 13,000.

Wood River escapement was 9,000 at 6:00 AM this morning. Yesterday’s total was 38,000, part of a cumulative of 478,000. Nushagak sockeye escapement was 11,000 yesterday for a season total of 196,000. Chinook escapement was 425 yesterday -- totaling 31,400 so far.

In Egegik, yesterday’s catch was 333,000, pushing the cumulative up over a million to 1.2 million. Escapement in the district was 83,800 yesterday, making for a season total escapement of 359,000.

Escapement in the Naknek River was 52,900 yesterday, part of a 211,000 cumulative. Kvichak escapement was 3,100 for a cumulative of 10,100. The Kvichak in-river estimate is 5,000. Harvest in the Naknek-Kvichak is 100,000 for a cumulative of 350,000.

 

At the Chignik Weir, total escapement yesterday was at 4,800. Their total is now 148,700.

 

Over on the South Peninsula, Area M now has a total sockeye harvest of 597,000. The pink harvest there is now at 8 million.

 

Catch this program nightly live at 6 p.m., with replays at 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. on AM 670, and online at KDLG.org. (With early broadcasts of the numbers Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.)

Letters from home to your friends and family in the Bay this summer? Email us at fish@kdlg.org or call 907-842-5281.

Have feedback or suggestions of something you'd like to hear? Reach Izzy Ross / Tyler Thompson / Alex Hager / Sage Smiley (in Naknek)

 

Contact the author at isabelle@kdlg.org 907-842-2200.

Izzy Ross is the news director at KDLG, the NPR member station in Dillingham. She reports, edits, and hosts stories from around the Bristol Bay region, and collaborates with other radio stations across the state.