Messages to the fleet
We have two messages tonight -
To the Fishing Vessel Kaia:
“Hi Daddy, we love and miss you! Uncle Charlie, I miss your pancakes. Hi Captain Tom! Get them fishes! From Mandy Rain.”
“To all my friends in Pilot Point - Mud studs and mud studettes. Wish you well. Good luck. Good fishing. I'll see you next season. Skookum. From, Dano”
The numbers
Across the bay, fleets hauled in 3.6 million sockeye on Friday, for a total harvest of 18 million. Friday’s escapement was 425,903. Total escapement is 5.9 million spawning salmon. Bristol Bay’s total run is at 24,158,822 fish.
Nushagak District
Fishermen in the Nushagak District caught another huge haul, bringing in 1.8 million fish on July 1st — with an average drift delivery of 2,056 sockeye. That daily catch is on par with the previous daily record set last year. The total harvest is now over 9 million fish. The district’s total run is now 13,488,252.
Nushagak River
A cool 83,000 sockeye swam past the Nushagak River sonar on Friday. That totals 2.4 million to date.
For the first time this season, the sonar crew counted zero Chinook on Friday. The total escapement for kings up the Nushagak is 40,888.
And the sonar crew counted 2,473 chum swimming upriver, for a total of 66,886.
Wood River
Close to 2 million sockeye total have swum up the Wood River. That run has now surpassed its upper escapement goal of 1.8 million. The tower crew counted 164,352 sockeye on Friday and 35,658 fish as of 6 a.m. this morning. Total escapement up the Wood is now at 1.9 million.
Igushik River
The Igushik tower counted 19,776 on Friday and another 3,414 this morning. Igushik escapement is now 91,530 fish so far. The Igushik escapement goal is at least 150,000 fish.
Togiak
The Togiak fleet caught 3,700 fish on Friday, for a total harvest of 15,577. The average delivery there was 235 sockeye. No escapement numbers from Togiak yet.
Naknek-Kvichak
The Naknek-Kvichak had a huge haul on Friday - harvest there was 751,000 fish for a total harvest of almost 2.5 million. The average drift delivery was 1,450 fish. Escapement was 109,000 fish for a season total of just over 758,568.
Naknek River
The Naknek River crew counted 99,798 fish that swam upriver on Friday, for a total escapement of 446,808.
Kvichak River
Kvichak’s daily escapement was 4,700 (4,764) for a total of 278,106. An estimated 80,000 fish are in the river.
Alagnak River
The Alagnak tower crew counted 4,536 fish escape on Friday for a total of 33,654.
Egegik
The Egegik fleet also saw a big haul with 865,000 fish harvested Friday for a total of 5.5 million. The average drift delivery was 1,752 sockeye. Over 35,376 swam past the counting tower, for a total escapement of 687,138.
An estimated 85,000 fish are in the river.
Fish and Game has said for about a week now that at this rate, Egegik’s run will likely pass the upper end escapement goal of 2 million.
The total run there is at 6,283,388 sockeye.
Ugashik
The Ugashik fleet caught 234,000 fish on Friday, with an average delivery of 2,730 sockeye. The total harvest is close to a million at 974,577. 14,400 fish escaped there (14,430), for a total of 21,000 (21,288). An estimated 40,000 fish are in the river.
The total run there is now at 1 million sockeye.
Registrations: July 2 at 9 a.m. through July 4 at 9 a.m.
As of this morning, there were 921 permits registered in the Nushagak on 683 vessels. On Monday that will decrease by just one at 920 permits on the same number of boats (683 boats). D-boats are at 240, and that will also drop by one at 239 on Monday.
In the Egegik District, there are 362 permits registered to 285 vessels. That number will fall slightly to 359 permits on Monday on 282 vessels. There are 77 D-boats, and that will stay the same through Monday.
Next, there are 293 permits in the Naknek- Kvichak registered to 253 vessels. By Monday that will increase slightly to 295 permits on 255 vessels. There are 42 D-boats, and that number will stay the same on Monday.
The Ugashik District has 106 permits on 78 boats. Those will both increase on Monday to 119 permits and 88 boats. There are 28 D-boats, and that number will increase by two to 31 boats on Monday.
In Togiak, there are 30 permits on 30 boats, and no scheduled changes for Monday.
Chignik Weir
At the Chignik River, 10,016 sockeye passed through the weir on Thursday. No sockeye were counted by 9 a.m. on Friday. Total sockeye escapement for the weir is at 223,765.
The minimum escapement goal is 350,000 sockeye.
Fish and Game forecast a run of 1.2 million sockeye to the Chignik River watershed this season. The early run forecast is 639,000 and the late run is predicted to be 633,000.
The department projected harvests to be about 113,000 sockeye, 82,600 coho, 1.2 million pink, and 40,000 chum.
Area M
Fishing in Area M is currently closed. The next scheduled fishing is 6 a.m. Wednesday, July 6.
As of the last count, the total sockeye harvest there is 5,151,561. Pink harvest is 1,162,539. Chum is 531,484, and Chinook are 3,682.
Fleets from the Dolgoi Island Area harvested 25,000 sockeye, and just 14 Chinook so far. The Shumagin Islands fleet has caught over 843,000 sockeye, and almost 1,300 Chinook. South Unimak fishermen have caught 3 million sockeye and 1,600 Chinook.
In all, the South Peninsula has hauled in almost 4 million sockeye, 2,900 Chinook, and just under 1.16 million pink salmon. The chum harvest is at 530,000.
Port Moller Test Fishery
Stock composition from June 28 - 29
The test fishery crew analyzed 187 fish for the June 28-29 stock composition estimate.
The largest percentage of the fish sampled were swimming to the Nushagak River — an estimated 31% were headed there. The estimate for the Kvichak is 24%. About 22% of the sampled sockeye were swimming to the Egegik. An estimated 12% of the samplings were on their way to the Wood. 6% are swimming to the Naknek, about 1% to the Ugashik, and less than 1% to the North Peninsula, Alagnak, Igushik, Togiak and Kuskokwim rivers.
North Peninsula 1.1%
Ugashik 0.9%
Egegik 22.1%
Naknek 6.6%
Alagnak 0.1%
Kvichak 24.6%
Nushagak 31%
Wood 12.2%
Igushik 0.3%
Togiak 0.7%
Kuskokwim 0.4%
Stock compositions have not yet been released for June 30 - July 1.
Catches from July 1
Technicians at the test fishery say the Daily Catch Index for July 1 was similar to the day before, and the outer band of fish appears to remain strong and centered on Station 16.
Let’s take a look at Friday’s catches across the transect:
Station 2, 11, 12 and 14 caught 0 fish.
Station 4 caught 1 fish in the 4 ½ mesh and 1 in the 5 ⅛. The index is 5.
Station 5 caught 3 fish in the 4 ½ and 3 in the 5 ⅛. The index is 16.
Station 6 caught 4 fish in the 4 ½ inch and 8 in the 5 ⅛. The index is 31.
Station 8 caught 1 fish in the 4 ½ and 0 in the 5 ⅛. The catch index is 2.
Station 9 caught 0 fish in the 4 ½ and 27 in the 5 ⅛. The index is 70.
Station 10 caught 4 fish in the 4 ½ and 16 in the 5 ⅛. That index is 55.
Station 15 caught 16 in the 4 ½ and 2 in the 5 ⅛. The index is 72.
Station 16 caught 108 fish in the 4 ½ and 104 in the 5 ⅛, for an index of 344.
Station 17 caught 20 in the 4 ½ and 16 in the 5 ⅛. That index is 77.
Station 18 caught 0 in the 4 ½ and 1 in the 5 ⅛. That index is 3.
If you’d like to get your message out to the fleet on this show, send it over in an email to fish@kdlg.org. If you’d like to get in touch about anything else, give us a call at (907) 842-2200 or send an email to fish@kdlg.org.
