Bristol Bay's sockeye run of 69.7 million fish is the biggest on record
Bristol Bay’s 2022 sockeye run is now the biggest on record: 69.7 million fish have returned this summer. That surpasses the previous record of 67.7 million fish, which was set last year.
With back-to-back record sockeye returns, Bristol Bay’s commercial fishery has flourished. KDLG's Brian Venua talked to Area Management Biologists Tim Sands and Aaron Tiernan about what it means to maintain strong salmon runs in the region.
On Friday, Bristol Bay not only hit the all-time record total run, but also surpassed the record for biggest harvest by ten million fish. Fleets have hauled in 53.3 million salmon so far.
That’s beyond what processors said they could handle ahead of the season. Their capacity was a total of 52 million fish this year, according to Fish and Game’s pre-season survey.
But it seems the bottleneck this year was not in the processing facilities, but with Alaska Marine Lines and a shortage of containers to transport processed fish out of the Bristol Bay region.
A fisherman who fishes for Leader Creek Fisheries sent along a message to KDLG. The processor sent a message to its fleet Friday morning.
The processor said freight companies announced the remaining freezer containers were in short supply. The freight companies said due to the current volume of harvest, their plan was to allocate the remaining containers equitably to processors in Bristol Bay. Leader Creek told its fleet in the message that based on current harvest volumes, fishermen should expect the entire industry to be out of containers "by the end of this week."
That fisherman told KDLG that message pushed them to wrap up their season. They were also planning to get out ahead of the weather, and despite an unexpected short season, it was their best ever.
Leader Creek Fisheries declined to comment about a container shortage.
John Hickman is vice president of Peter Pan Seafoods and says they’ve been able to address the volume this season by transporting fish to other facilities in Port Moller and King Cove.
But he says the frozen container shortage impacts their Dillingham plant which is something they’re working on.
“It does affect Dillingham, if they should not be able to put more in there. At this point, it looks like it's gonna be a challenge to have pre-cooled containers like they need to have. That being said, the run should be looking at a slow down from here, and by utilizing our tenders, Port Moller, King Cove, we hope to be able to take care of our feet and other fish.”
Hickman said Peter Pan would not be putting out limits or reductions at this time, and would be looking at operations and transport day by day.
KDLG reached out to other seafood processing companies throughout the Bristol Bay region including Trident Seafoods, OBI Seafoods, and Silver Bay for comment, but we did not hear anything back by airtime.
An Alaska Marine Lines spokesperson told KDLG today that “with the projected record-breaking harvest, the company had notified processors that they may run out of containers prior to the season.” They wouldn’t confirm when exactly they would run out of containers.
AML confirmed they are working to distribute the remaining and arriving containers to allow processors time to plan for the run’s end.
Food Friday
It’s Food Friday! A time to tune in for recipes, leftover inspiration, or to whet your palate. This week, we have Susie Brito, commercial fisherman, food blogger, and passionate cook joining us, not with a single recipe but ideas for upping the boat kitchen all around. She’s all about preparing ahead of season for herself and the crew of the Kakua to eat well while fishing.
Check out Susie Brito's blog at setthenet.com.
The numbers
Bristol Bay’s 2022 sockeye run is the largest on record. A historic 69.7 million fish have returned to the bay this season. We won’t stop talking about this for a while.
2.3 million fish were harvested on Thursday for a total of 53.3 million, Harvest in the region is also at a record high of 53.3 million fish – over a million fish more than processors committed to buying in preseason surveys, but more on that later.
Baywide escapement on Thursday was 748,015 fish for a count of 16.3 million in the rivers.
Nushagak District
The Nushagak fleet caught 450,000 sockeye on Thursday, with an average drift delivery of 434 sockeye. The district’s total harvest is now 21.7 million fish. That’s the district’s second largest harvest on record.
Another 72,611 sockeye escaped up rivers across the district. The district’s population of spawning salmon has reached 7 million.
The district’s total run is at 28.8 million sockeye – the second largest on record. The district’s largest run was in 2018, at 33.7 million fish.
Let’s break down the district’s escapement by river.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar crew counted 20,315 sockeye on Thursday, bringing the river’s total escapement to 3.5 million.
The daily chum run was 1,028, for a total of 88,191.
And Chinook escapement was at 365, for a season total of 43,268.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crew counted 46,104 salmon on Thursday and another 3,834 this morning. The Wood’s total spawner count is at 3.5 million.
Igushik River
Over at the Igushik River, numbers dipped a bit on Thursday: The tower crew counted 6,192 fish, and another 2,190 this morning. Igushik’s run is at 230,298.
Togiak
Togiak’s run past the tower also slowed down on Thursday. 2,352 fish escaped, and another 906 swam up to join them this morning. Total escapement up the Togiak River is now just over 33,000.
Naknek-Kvichak District
How many superlatives can we use in one fish report? The Naknek-Kvichak fleet had a gargantuan haul on Thursday, catching 1.1 million fish. The average for drift deliveries was 1,401 sockeye. The district’s total harvest is now just under 12 million.
570,300 salmon escaped up the district’s rivers, bringing the total number of spawning salmon to 6.3 million fish.
The district’s total run is at 18.3 million.
And to break down escapement by river,
Naknek River
Naknek’s counting crew tallied 82,590 fish for a total escapement of 1.7 million.
Kvichak River
Kvichak had an enormous push of salmon upriver. The Kvichak crew counted 383,220 fish, for a total escapement of 3.4 million.
Alagnak River
Alagnak had a big push as well – 104,490 fish swam upriver on Thursday for a total escapement of 1.1 million.
Egegik
Egegik’s fleets caught 417,000 fish for a cumulative harvest of 14.2 million. Average drift deliveries contained 1,305 sockeye. Another 37,092 fish escaped up the Egegik River, bringing the total spawner count to 1.6 million.
Egegik’s total run is now 15.9 million sockeye – the fourth largest on record.
Ugashik
Fisherfolk in the Ugashik caught 380,000 salmon on Thursday, for a season total of 5.1 million so far. Average drift deliveries held 1,561 sockeye.
Escapement up the Ugashik on Thursday was 65,670 fish, for a total of 1.2 million. Another 75,000 are estimated to be swimming upriver toward the counting tower.
Ugashik’s total run is at 6.4 million sockeye.
Vessel Registrations
Bristol Bay’s permit and vessel counts are still set to grow over the next couple days.
More vessels are moving over to the Naknek-Kvichak this weekend. There are currently 644 permits on 516. That will increase to 669 permits on 538 boats by Sunday. The number of DBoats will go from 131 to 134.
Egegik will see a very slight bump of one permit and one vessel on Sunday, bringing the registration counts from 288 permits on 221 boats to 289 permits on 222 boats. DBoats will remain the same, at 67.
Nushagak’s fleet will shrink slightly, from 434 permits on 318 boats to 429 permits on 315 boats. The number of DBoats will go from 117 to 115.
Ugashik’s fleet will drop in numbers as well, from 327 on 245 boats to 325 permits on 243 boats. The number of DBoats will remain at 83.
Finally, Togiak’s fleet will stay steady at 38 permits on 38 boats.
Chignik Weir
Down the Alaska Peninsula in the Chignik River Weir, 24,622 sockeye were counted for a season total of just under half a million so far.
9,788 sockeye were part of the Early Run for a count of 395,215 anbd 14,835 fish were part of the Late Run there for a total of 104,478 salmon.
12 Chinook also returned for a cumulative count of 290 for that species.
Area M
The Area M intercept fishery seems to be slowing down, only 66,291 fish were caught yesterday for a total of 8.9 million fish this season so far.
Thursday’s harvest broke down to 62,786 sockeye, 2,361 pinks, 1,078 chum, 61 coho, and 5 Chinook.
Total harvest for each species is now 7.14 million sockeye, 1.19 million pinks, 589,105 chum, 6,679 Chinook, and 1,568 coho.
