Bristol Bay's sockeye haul hoists up statewide harvests
Alaska's statewide salmon harvest is 30% higher than last year at this time. But while the bay's sockeye harvest is booming, many other species are below average, and other parts of the state are hauling in less fish than usual. We talk to Sam Friedman, a research analyst with the McKinley group.
In-season data puts the average weight for sockeye at 4.9 pounds — that’s up from the average of 4.7 pounds last year. Friedman said judging the value of harvest by the number of fish returning can be misleading. That's because the market value is determined by pounds, not number of fish.
Many processing workers come to Alaska from abroad. Processors scramble to get special work permits for them every year.
It takes hard work and many hands to cut, handle and process the 46 million sockeye caught so far and bring them to markets and tables around the world. So today we wanted to take a closer look at who those seafood processing workers are. KDLG’s Corinne Smith joins to break down the situation.
How did the industry prepare to harvest this many salmon?
We talk to Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association's executive director, Andy Wink, about the efforts of processors and managers to harvest millions of sockeye, where those fish are going to be sold, and how this massive volume may impact what fishermen get paid.
Just a note, BBRSDA is a financial supporter of KDLG's Bristol Bay Fisheries Report.
The numbers
Bristol Bay fleets broke the record for total harvest at 46.56 million sockeye so far for this season, Another 2.75 million sockeye were hauled in on Monday to push the bay's harvest past the previous record of 44.7 million fish. Over a million fish escaped up rivers to their spawning grounds, for a total of 13.8 million. The in-river estimate is 675,000 fish. The total bay-wide run is now 61 million fish — now the fourth largest on record.
Nushagak District
Nushagak District’s total run is at 26.85 million fish. That’s the third largest on record.
The fleet hauled in 866,000 fish Monday, for a total catch of 20.1 million. Average drifters brought in 895 sockeye per delivery.
222,000 sockeye escaped for a count of 6.7 million so far.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River had 81,639 fish come through the river there. Cumulative escapement for the Nushagak is 3.23 million.
81,639 were sockeye for a total of 3.23 million fish.
The 2022 chum run continues at a slow pace 1,693 chum returned for a total of 85,149.
The Chinook count is still low: Just 43 Chinook returned for a count of 42,815 – below the minimum escapement goal of 55,000.
Wood River
The Wood River had 131,046 fish come through on Monday with another 21,336 fish this morning for a total run of 3.3 million fish.
Igushik River
The Igushik River had another 9,240 fish come through with 2,568 this morning. Total escapement there is now over 202,000.
Togiak District
Monday's run to Togiak was at 3,354 fish, and 1,344 fish joined them this morning. Total escapement is now over at 24,000 fish.
The fleet hauled in a larger harvest Monday with 11,500 fish caught, and average drift deliveries at 124 fish. Total harvest there is now just over 114,600.
The total run in Togiak is now 137,297.
Naknek-Kvichak District
The Naknek-Kvichak District’s total run is now 14.3 million fish.
On Monday, harvest was over a million a fish for a total harvest of 9.2 million sockeye. Average drift deliveries there were 1,411 sockeye. Escapement was lower at 630,942 for a count of about 4.6 million along with another 500,000 estimated in the rivers.
Naknek River
The Naknek River had a larger count on Monday — 204,876 fish made it past the tower for a total of 1.5 million this season.
Kvichak River
The Kvichak River had another big surge of fish that came by their tower with 316,158 fish along with another 500,000 estimated in that river. Kvichak escapement is now at 2.33 million sockeye. That’s now passed its lower escapement goal of 2 million fish.
Alagnak River
The Alagnak had 109,908 fish counted for a running total of 800,226 fish so far.
Egegik District
On Monday, Egegik’s fleet caught another half a million - 507,000 fish, with an average drift delivery of 1,424 fish. That brings the total harvest to 12.88 million. Escapement up the Egegik was 72,048 for a total count of 1.5 million. There was no in-river estimate reported for Monday.
Egegik’s total run is now at 14.38 million.
Ugashik District
Over to Ugashik, fleets caught 300,000 fish for a total harvest of 4.2 million fish. The average drift delivery was the highest among all districts on Monday at 2,531 fish.
Another 115,632 escaped up river, for the cumulative of 921,870 fish - now well over the lower escapement goal. 175,000 fish are estimated to be in-river.
Ugashik’s total run is at 5.3 million.
Registrations as of: July 12 9 a.m and July 14 9 a.m
In Egegik, there are 274 permits on 211 boats. Those numbers will increase slightly to 280 permits on 214 boats by Thursday. DBoats will also increase from 63 to 66 boats.
Looks like a lot more crews are headed to the Naknek-Kvichak District - expect more than one hundred more boats there by Thursday. There are 507 permits now, but that will rise to 633 in two days. The number of vessels will go from 410 to 511 and the number of DBoats will go from 100 to 125.
The Nushagak District has 517 permits now, which will drop slightly to 513 on Thursday. The number of vessels will go from 377 to 375, and DBoats will go from 141 to 139.
The Togiak District has 37 permits on 37 boats, and that will stay the same for two days.
The Ugashik District will grow from 245 permits to 288, the number of vessels from 189 to 221, and Dboats will go from 57 to 68 by Thursday .
Chignik Weir Counts
Chignik’s first opener kicked off on Monday. It's opener has been extended until noon on Friday.
The Chignik River Weir counted 17,593 sockeye and 30 Chinook on Monday. 9,118 sockeye were part of the early run, which is now above its lower boundary for their escapement goal with 376,745 fish. The late run had 8,475 fish for a count of 79,405 sockeye.
The total Chinook run so far is now 248.
Area M
Area M fisherfolk caught 244,325 salmon on Monday for a total harvest of 8.58 million fish. 222,376 of them were sockeye, 7,799 were chum, 1,163 Chinook, 11,937 were pinks and 1,050 coho.
Total harvest for each species is now 6.8 million sockeye, 1.19 million pinks, 587,942 chum, 6,670 Chinook, and 1,506 coho.
Port Moller Test Fishery
In an update, Port Moller technicians noted the high index at station two. They say late season vulnerability may have changed, so it’s difficult to determine exactly what high indices represent at this point, but that it probably means that the run will not taper dramatically.
Station 0 caught 8 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 1 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 21.
Station 1 caught 5 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 0 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 11.
Station 2 caught 53 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 69 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 209.
Station 3 caught 0 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 1 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 4.
Station 4 caught zero fish.
Station 6 caught 9 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 2 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 29.
Station 8 caught 13 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 4 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 35.
Station 10 caught 0 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 11 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 21.
Station 12 caught 15 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 2 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 27.
Station 14 caught 5 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 5 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 19.
Station 16 caught 9 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 2 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 20.
Station 18 caught 8 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 27 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 58.
Station 20 caught 0 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 6 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 11.
Station 22 caught 5 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 1 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 11.
Station 24 caught 1 fish in the 4 ½ inch mesh and 0 fish in the 5 ⅛. That catch index is 2.
