Get in touch and share some perspective — give us a call 907-842-2200 or send an email to fish@kdlg.org. If you’d like to get a message out to the fleet on this show, send your messages to the fleet to fish@kdlg.org.
Skipper Science Program, part 2
Yesterday, KDLG’s Jack Darrell explored the Skipper Science Program and their Nushagak King Mapping project. As a refresher, Skipper Science is a smartphone app and platform for subsistence and fishing crews to self-report their catch in an effort to provide data to inform the future of fisheries management .
The Skipper Science app is one tool in a larger arsenal developed by the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island in conjunction with their Indigenous Sentinels Network, a statewide network of tribes, researchers, and communities focused on conservation. The network is focused on the intersection of western science practices and a long tradition of indigenous and local knowledge practices. Tonight, we step behind the scenes of the Indigenous Sentinels Network in Bristol Bay and beyond. KDLG’s Jack Darrell reports.
To learn more about the Indigenous Sentinels Network, ask questions and get in touch you can visit sentinelsnetwork.org.
Ugashik crew check-in
KDLG’s Jessie Sheldon caught up with crew member Carter Daniels on the F/V Ruth M, who was out on the water for yesterday’s opener in Ugashik.
How is Alaska salmon selling from last year? It's a complicated question
Earlier this year, the USDA announced its intent to purchase $67 million of canned and tinned Alaska sockeye for its food assistance programs. That big bulk purchase could provide some relief to the industry, Schactler says, but when the actual purchase will be made is still unknown.
There’s still no official word from Alaska seafood companies on a base price for Bristol Bay fish this season - or replies to KDLG’s requests for comment.
But seafood industry analysts say last year’s record-breaking Bristol Bay harvest is still being sold in retail markets worldwide, and a factor into what could end up being a dramatically lower price for fishermen this year.
Bruce Schactler is the global food aid director for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and a commercial fisherman of over 50 years, based in Kodiak. He says 2022’s bonzana harvest flooded the market.
“Well, I don't think it's any secret to anybody,” he said. “All you have to do is look at the size of the harvest, and what normally is sold around the world and realize it was a pretty overwhelming challenge for everybody to figure out what to do with so much product.”
Schactler it’s too soon to say how the fallout from last year’s historic Bristol Bay season and how those challenges will play out across the supply chain.
“There's a big difference between a booming year and something that's double a booming year,” he said. “So I don't know that we've ever seen anything quite like this before, to where you harvest enough product, it'll take two years to sell it. So I think we're all on new territory here. And everybody from one end to the other, is sort of just learning as we go almost, on how to deal with something like this.”
The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute is a public private partnership between the State of Alaska and the seafood processing industry, focused on increasing the economic value of Alaskan seafood.
Schactler says the organization, as well as other trade groups and wholesalers, increased their budgets to market and sell sockeye after last year’s massive harvest.
“They (ASMI) modified the budget to move a tremendous amount of more money,” he said. “Several million dollars more into the marketing of strictly just sockeye. I know the local organization there, the RSDA (Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association) has also spent several million dollars on trying to help that happen. The buyers themselves, the suppliers themselves have all modified their marketing budgets. So it's been a worldwide effort too, and we're not just talking about marketing to the United States, this is working at selling it all over the world. So it's really been an all hands on deck effort.”
Schactler says seafood wholesalers and retailers are trying to make Alaska salmon a hot commodity in stores this summer.
But one major challenge retailers are facing is lower consumer demand for salmon, in the United States and global markets, due to inflation and shoppers looking at higher grocery bills.
He says that’s reflected in the data of retail stores tracking customer’s purchases.
“We see that from retail information,” he said. “Every time you go and buy a can of soup, or that head of lettuce in the grocery store that goes into a national database. They know who's buying what, where, and when, and how much, and that all shows a downturn in seafood. But other things as well. And, you know, the significance of seafood in that manner is because, A, it's expensive, in the grand scheme of things, compared to prepared foods or compared to chicken or something like that, pork. It's an expensive protein. And so it’s just a fact of what's happening in real time.”
Schactler says looking at the salmon supply chain, retailers like Safeway and Costco have a lot of power in setting prices, based on consumer demand, which could be a cause for the lower prices.
“The retailers that are really are the ones that are deciding what the stuff goes for,” he said. “They know what's going on in Bristol Bay. They can listen to your forecasts, they can go on Fish and Game and look at the harvest figures of every single day. They know what's being harvested, and where, how much and can assume what the product forms are. So when you look at all of that, it has an effect on what this new product is going to be potentially sold for. And I think that's what we're seeing.”
Weather Wednesday
This summer, we’re going to take a few minutes each Wednesday to check in with Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks center for climate assessment and policy, in a segment called Weather Wednesday.
Today KDLG’s Jack Darrell talked to Thoman about this week's forecast. Sunny days are on the horizon going into this weekend and less wind but first, more rain showers.
Messages to the fleet
To Aidan McGee on the F/V Solstice:
Hey honey. Hope you’re doing well and got the things I sent via Brent. Also - your fall semester class list arrived and I have concerns with you taking, “Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse” and “Patternmaking for Dog Garments”. As much as I love the thought of Tinker and Ranger living their best lives in festive canine coveralls, you’re better off sticking with the tech classes. And I can teach you all you need to know about surviving an apocalypse - I survived your grandparents.
Stay safe, hello to Rio and Jim!
Love,
Montana Mom
If you’d like to send a message to the fleet get in touch or give some perspective, give us a call 842-5281 or send an email to fish@kdlg.org.
The numbers
The bay-wide daily catch on Tuesday was just shy of a million at 958,314 fish harvested across all districts. The total run as of yesterday was 5,258,594 sockeye, and cumulative escapement was at 2,447,455.
At the Nushagak River sonar, another 118,343 sockeye passed on Tuesday for a total of 887,215 fish up the river so far.
2,334 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar for a total of 21,024 this season
And another 4,362 chum salmon passed the sonar, for a total of 49,883.
Wood River
325,302 sockeye passed the Wood River counting tower on Tuesday, for a total escapement of 1,378,728. About 8 million sockeye are expected to return to the Wood.
Igushik River
A big push of 19,014 sockeye passed the Igushik counting tower on Tuesday, for a total of 27,288 fish this season. 14,946 more swam past the tower as of 6 am this morning.
Togiak
Fishermen in Togiak caught 2,829 fish yesterday, and the season’s cumulative catch is 6,179 fish.
No escapement numbers from Togiak yet, but the forecast is an estimated 700,000 sockeye, and about 500,000 for harvest.
Naknek-Kvichak
Naknek and Kvichak fleets hauled in 173,622 fish. The total season harvest is 199,929 fish to date. This season’s total escapement is at 76,878 fish. 2,768 of those fish swam upstream yesterday.
The Naknek is forecasted to see a 6.5 million sockeye run, and the Kvichak is expecting to see over 8 million fish. The Alagnak is forecasted to get around 4.2 million, but no Alagnak counts are in yet.
Egegik
Egegik fishing crews caught 91,029 fish yesterday, bringing the season’s total catch to 880,090. Another 1,074 fish escaped upstream Tuesday, bringing the season’s total escapement to 77,346 fish. The season’s escapement goal is over 800,000.
The total run is now at 962,436 fish, and Egegik is expected to see around 11 million sockeye.
Ugashik
Ugashik fleets caught 15,202 fish on Monday. The season total is 78,720 fish harvested. Escapement is still at zero, leaving the total run at 78,720.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 am this morning, in Egegik, there are 429 permits on 325 boats. Permits will drop slightly to 426 permits on 323 boats by Friday, and the number of DBoats boats will go from 104 to 103.
The Ugashik District stayed the same with 60 permits on 47 boats, which will also increase slightly to 62 permits on 48 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go from 13 to 14.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 250 permits on 212 boats. That will increase to 313 permits on 260 boats by Friday. DBoats will increase from 38 to 53.
In the Nushagak, there are 750 permits on 537 boats. In the next 2 days, that will go to 755 permits on 543 boats. DBoats will drop from 213 to 212.
The Togiak District has 18 permits on 18 boats, which won’t change in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 1507 active permits on 1,139 boats and 368 DBoats.
Chignik River weir
At the Chignik River weir, 25, 768 sockeye swam through the weir yesterday, for a season total of 210,108.
An estimated 23,915 fish were part of the early run, and 1,853 fish part of the late run.
Area M
In Area M, North and South Peninsula fleets harvested 68,157 sockeye yesterday for a total topping a million fish (1,058,943) this season. They caught another 82 chinook for a total of 2,431 to date.
5,247 pinks were caught on Tuesday along with 4,500 [4,518] chum and just 9 cohos.
The total Area M season harvest across species is now at 1,394,035 fish.
Most of the season’s fish have been caught on the South Peninsula, with the South Unimak and Shumagin Islands fleets' total harvest now at 817,131 sockeye and 1,591 chinook.
In the North Peninsula, total harvest is at 241,812 sockeye and 840 chinook by fleets in Nelson Lagoon, Port Heiden, and the Northwestern District.
Port Moller Test Fishery:
Technicians report the Port Moller test net is typically 200 fathoms, but yesterday only 150 fathoms were used for Stations 10-18 because one shackle needed repairing. The crew fished the day with a shorter net, and the catch indices have been adjusted. They say nets will be fully mended by Wednesday, and will be fishing the full 200 fathoms. We’ll have more from the Port Moller Test Fishery technicians on tomorrow’s show.
No stock composition to report today. On to the catch numbers…
For Port Moller catches on Tuesday, no fish were caught at Stations 16 or 18.
At the following test fishery stations, the smaller mesh size is 4 ½ inch and the bigger mesh size is 5 ⅛.
Station 4 caught 50 fish in the small net and 30 fish in the big net. That catch index is 123.
Station 6 caught 48 fish in the small net and 8 fish in the big net. That catch index is 124.
Station 8 caught 2 fish in the small net and 16 fish in the big net. That catch index is 39.
Station 10 caught 42 fish in the small n et and 28 fish in the big net. That catch index is 131.
Station 12 caught 2 fish in the small net and 13 fish in the big net. That catch index is 33.
Station 14 caught 0 fish in the small net and 16 fish in the big net for a catch index of 44.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
