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The Port Moller Test Fishery Extended Another Day

Mike Mason

Sockeye catches through the Port Moller Test Fishery dropped off a bit on Wednesday compared to the huge catches recorded on Tuesday. 136-sockeye were caught on Wednesday. The catch at station 2 was 32-sockeye. That’s the largest daily catch of the season at that station. Wednesday’s catch at station 4 was 13-sockeye and the catch at station 6 was 20-fish. The catch at station 8 was 45-sockeye and the catch at station 10 was 26-fish. Wednesday’s harvest produced a daily replacement index number of 27. That’s the lowest daily index number since June 26th. The daily traditional index number was 84, which pushed the cumulative index number up to 1,977. The Port Moller Test Fishery was scheduled to end after the fishing effort on Wednesday but was extended another day on Thursday in an effort to get a little more insight on the late part of the sockeye run to Bristol Bay. The latest Port Moller genetic information was released Wednesday for the sockeye caught through the test fishery on Friday and Saturday of last week. The sockeye resource that passed through the fishing grounds on those 2 days should be hitting the inshore fishing districts of Bristol Bay right now given a 5 to 6-day’s travel time. Nearly 56-percent of the sockeye analyzed from the catch on July 4th and 5th carried genetic markers for the Kvichak River while 13.6-percent were apparently bound for the Naknek River. 10.6-percent of the analyzed sockeye were Egegik River fish and 9.7-percent were apparently headed to the Igushik River. 5.2-percent carried genetic markers for the Wood River and 2.1-percent were identified as Ugashik River sockeye. Another 2.1-percent were Alagnak River sockeye while just 0.3-percent were Nushagak River fish. Just 0.2-percent of the analyzed sockeye were headed to the Togiak River and another 0.2-percent were identified as Kuskokwim River sockeye.