The bay's run rounds 34 million sockeye: Are we halfway through?
The sockeye run to Bristol Bay has been monumental so far. But where are we headed from here? A professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks says he thinks we’ve just passed the halfway mark of the run for the season. Curry Cunningham is an assistant professor with the UAF College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. In the summer, he works with the University of Washington’s Fisheries Research Institute program in Aleknagik. KDLG’s Izzy Ross talked to Cunningham about the run timing and why we’re seeing bigger sockeye this year.
Read the University of Washington's 2022 forecast for Bristol Bay
Net Your Problem wants to help you recycle your old nets
For decades, retired plastic nets in Bristol Bay would go to a landfill to get buried. But as KDLG’s Brian Venua reports, one company is working to change that.
Messages to the fleet
To Hunter Davis out on the Captain Crunch:
Call your girlfriend please! It’s been a month already! Much love from your girl onshore,
From Aubrey Arevalo
The numbers
Bristol Bay saw 4.46 million fish come through the waters on Monday. The total run is now up to 34.4 million fish.
Just over 4 million were harvested for a running total of 26.7 million in nets. Another 454,694 escaped them and made it up rivers for a bay-wide escapement tally of 7.5 million spawning salmon.
Nushagak District
The Nushagak District had about 1.9 million fish in its waters yesterday, the run there is now 17.8 million fish.
Fisherfolk there had their third-largest single-day harvest ever with 1.78 million salmon in their nets and drifters averaged 1,268 sockeye per delivery.
Escapement across the bay was 105,098 for a total of 5.1 million this season.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River escapement on Monday was less than half of the day before. Only 30,368 sockeye came through, for a total escapement of 2.6 million.
Monday's chum run was 1,365, bringing that total escapement to 76,214.
Chinook escapement was low again on Monday: 62 kings swam past the sonar, for a season total of 41,216.
Wood River
The Wood River saw a smaller return on Monday as well with only 62,760 fish past the counting tower. 54,090 were counted this morning, making total escapement there now 2.3 million fish.
Igushik River
The Igushik River also had a smaller return on Monday. Only 11,970 fish came back along with 3,486 friends this morning. The total run there is now 137,466 salmon.
Togiak
Fishers in the Togiak District caught a combined 6,600 fish yesterday with average drift deliveries at 125 sockeye. No escapement yet.
Naknek-Kvichak District
The Naknek-Kvichak District had 978,946 fish come through along with another 60,000 fish for a running total there of over 5.7 million fish.
Fishers in that district harvested 697,000 of them with an average of 1,097 sockeye per drift delivery.
Looking to escapement, 281,946 made it through Kvichak Bay and into the rivers for a cumulative 1.47 million spawners.
Naknek River
The Naknek River saw about 76,698 of them for a total of 725,124 fish — almost at the lower end of the escapement goal there.
Kvichak River
The Kvichak was the big winner there on Monday with 159,222 fish, for a total of 591,360 in that river.
Alagnak River
The Alagnak had 46,026 fish come in on Monday for a total of 150,786 there.
Egegik
Over in the Egegik District, 1.2 million fish came through with another 60,000 fish estimated in the river for a total run of 8.8 million salmon this year.
1.2 million of that were caught by fisherfolk with average drift deliveries at 1,786 sockeye for a cumulative harvest of 7.9 million fish.
Monday's escapement was 44,628, and the Egegik River is now at the lower end of their escapement goal.
Ugashik
Over in Ugashik, about 356,022 salmon came through the bay with another 50,000 estimated in the river for a total of about 2.06 million fish.
Harvest in Ugashik was at 333,000, still with the heaviest nets in the region with an average of 2,339 salmon per drift delivery. Total harvest there is now 1.9 million fish.
23,022 fish evaded the nets for a total of 117,816 fish.
Registrations as of: July 5 9:00 a.m. and July 7 9:00 a.m.
In Egegik, there are 347 permits on 272 boats, both of which will increase by 1 on Thursday. The number of DBoats will stay the same at 75 vessels.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are currently 308 permits on 266 vessels, 44 of which are DBoats. On Thursday that number will rise to 317 permits on 273 vessels, 46 of which will be DBoats.
The Nushagak District holds its grip on the largest fleet in the bay with 646 boats holding 874 permits. That number will decrease by 1 on Thursday. The number of DBoats will stay the same at 230.
In the Togiak District, there are 32 permits on 32 boats, however that number will rise to 34 permits on 34 boats on Thursday.
In Ugashik, there are 148 permits on 112 boats. Those numbers will increase to 166 permits on 126 boats and the number of DBoats will increase from 36 to 40.
Chignik Weir
Correction July 8, 2022:
We misstated the early run sockeye counts past the Chignik Weir.
The Chignik Weir counted 13,131 early run sockeye on Monday, not 16,866 as originally reported. The weir counted 3,735 late run sockeye. The early run sat at 281,815, not 308,882 fish. The late run was at 27,067 salmon. 18 Chinook and 18 pinks arrived on Monday, for a season total of 61 Chinook and 18 pinks so far.
Area M
The Area M fishery is closed until Wednesday, July 6.
Port Moller Test Fishery
The Port Moller Test Fishery have slowed down once again. Technicians are experimenting with tide differentials to try and understand the influence of the tide this season.
Stations 2, 6, 10, 12, and 14 caught 0 fish.
Station 4 caught 0 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 3 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 7.
Station 15 caught 2 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 76 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 120.
Station 16 caught 7 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 9 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 31.
Station 17 caught 26 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 17 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 89.
Station 18 caught 39 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 31 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 131.
Station 20 caught 3 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 4 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 16.
Stock Composition:
We also have the stock composition for July 2 and 3.
The Port Moller Test Fishery analyzed 190 fish from those days.
