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The Numbers
Nushagak
At the Nushagak River sonar, 1,792 sockeye swam upstream for a season total so far of 4,571.
Chinook and Chum counts remain low, with no chinook salmon swimming past the sonar site yesterday, for a season total of 2,508.
And no chum salmon were recorded yesterday at the sonar site, leaving the season total at 5,089.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see a 3.5 million fish run this season, with an escapement goal range of 370,000 to 1.4 million.
The escapement goal range for chinook salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000.
Wood River
As of 1 p.m. yesterday, the Wood River counting tower crew got set up and counts are coming in.
An estimated 606 sockeye passed the counting tower on Monday. And another 492 swam up as of 6 a.m. this morning.
Igushik counts are scheduled to begin on June 23rd.
Togiak
No numbers from Togiak yet. The district’s counts are scheduled to begin on July 5th.
The total inshore run for Togiak River sockeye is forecasted to be about 680,000 fish, with an escapement goal range of 120,000 to 270,000.
Naknek-Kvichak
No counts are available yet for the Naknek and Kvichak rivers, but the Naknek tower crew started working yesterday and is expecting to have escapement counts starting tomorrow. The Kvichak tower crew is expected to start counts on June 21st, and Alagnak escapement numbers will likely start coming in on June 29th.
An inshore run of approximately 15 million sockeye is expected across the Naknek/Kvichak district this season.
The Naknek River escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million sockeye. In the Kvichak River, the escapement goal range is 2 million to 10 million fish, and the Alagnak River has a minimum escapement goal of 210,000.
Egegik
Egegik fishing crews caught 5,082 fish on Saturday, with an average drift delivery of 40 fish. The season’s total catch is now 6,121.
Escapement numbers started coming in yesterday, with 48 spawners swimming up the Egegik River.
The district’s inshore run this season is forecasted to be about 5.5 million sockeye salmon and the river’s escapement goal is 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Ugashik
In Ugashik, fishing crews caught 518 fish on Monday, with an average drift delivery of 31 fish.
The district’s inshore run this season is forecasted to be about 4.6 million sockeye salmon and the river’s escapement goal is 500,000 to 1.4 million fish. Ugashik escapement counts are scheduled to begin on June 27th.
Vessel Registrations
Vessel Registration Data is not yet available this season. As soon as it is, you’ll hear it here first!
Chignik Weir Counts
At the Chignik River weir, only 336 sockeye swam through the weir yesterday, for a total of 23,815.
An estimated 330 fish were part of the early run, and 6 fish were part of the late run.
The Chignik’s optimal escapement goal range is 540,000 to 760,000.
Area M
In Area M, fishing fleets harvested just under 54,000 53,848 sockeye on Monday for a season total of about 292,000 291,878.
Chinook season harvests are up to 425, with 55 of those fish caught yesterday. 16,210 pink salmon were caught yesterday, bringing the season’s harvest to 55,191. So far 6 coho salmon have been caught. Almost all commercial harvests this season have been caught on the South Peninsula by South Unimak and Shumagin Islands fleets.
Port Moller
On to the Port Moller Test Fishery:
As of yesterday, test fishery crews report numbers picking up yesterday, all in line with the season’s forecast and average run timing.
The team out there hopes to have enough genetic samples by the end of the day to get the season’s first stock composition estimates to know which districts the fish are heading towards.
No fish were caught at Station 4, 12, and 22, and station 2 was not fished.
At the following test fishery stations, the smaller mesh size is 4 ½ inch and the larger mesh size is 5 ⅛.
Station 6 caught 10 fish in the small net and 15 fish in the big net. That catch index is 56.
Station 8 caught 12 fish in the small net and 6 fish in the big net.That catch index is 22.
Station 10 caught 23 fish in the small net and 26 fish in the big net. That catch index is 101.
Station 14 caught 0 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Station 16 caught 0 fish in the small net and 2 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Station 18 caught 3 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 11.
Station 20 caught 7 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 13.
Station 24 caught 1 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
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