Get in touch and share some perspective — give us a call at 907-842-5281 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.
Kirsten Dobroth Reporting for Undercurrent News with an Alaska Seafood Markets Update
Looking at the bigger picture, it’s been a really interesting time for the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery. With 2022 bringing the highest number of fish in the Bay ever, with a 79 million fish run. Followed by last year, which brought some of the lowest prices ever seen for sockeye. And this year, even though there’s a more average run size forecasted and higher prices, the processor scene is changing significantly, with Peter Pan seafoods going into receivership this spring, and a new floating processor in the bay–Northline Seafoods.
Kirsten Dobroth reports on Alaska’s fisheries for Undercurrent News – a commercial fishing and seafood industry trade magazine. She’s in Dillingham this week and is here now to talk fish with KDLG’s Jessie Sheldon.
Ugashik/Egegik Update with Area Management Biologist Aaron Tiernan
Egegik and Ugashik fleets are bringing in the first commercial sockeye harvests of the bay this season. KDLG’s Jessie Sheldon checked in with area management biologist Aaron Tiernan to get the latest.
Weather Wednesday
We’re back this season with Weather Wednesdays! Meg Duff spoke with climatologist Rick Thoman this afternoon to bring you the latest on what to expect this season on land and out on the water. This year we are already seeing the start of fire season, with a smoke advisory issued yesterday for the Kuskokwim Region—Rick weighs in on whether that smoke might impact Bristol Bay.
We also talked about this year’s global sea surface temperatures which hit a record high. Data from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts shows that every year, sea surface temperatures follow a predictable pattern: they get cooler during the summer, rise in early fall, dip again in winter, and then peak in early spring.
But in 2023, that data shows that the pattern changed. After that early spring peak, sea surface temperatures didn’t really dip—they just kept rising. They are still following the same seasonal cycle of highs and lows, but for the past year, the entire cycle has broken records.
The data goes back to 1979. Every day for the past year, we’ve seen global average sea surface temperatures that are higher than anything on record. And this year’s temperatures have all been higher even than last year’s record highs.
KDLG's Meg Duff spoke with Rick Thoman about those abnormal temperatures and how they might be impacting Bristol Bay.
Messages to the Fleet
A message to Travis on the boat Say When in Egegik, Alaska—
We love you, we miss you, and you better be behaving! From Jasmine Hagerthy and Geo.
We also have a message for Buddy. Buddy is a dolphin who deckhand Steve Burrows rescued from a net two years ago–-you can find that story here. Burrows says Buddy already showed up again by his boat this year. Here’s his message for buddy: [dolphin audio] loosely translated, "it's good to see you again my friend. From deckhand Steve Burrows and Captain Norby"
The Numbers:
Nushagak
At the Nushagak River sonar yesterday, just over 3,605 sockeye swam upstream for a season total so far of almost 8,176 fish.
Chinook and Chum counts remain low, with 137 chinook salmon swimming past the sonar site yesterday, for a season total of about 2,654 chinook and 204 chum salmon making their way upstream, for a season total of almost 5,293 chum.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see a 3.5 million sockeye run this season, with an escapement goal range of 370,000 to 1.4 million.
For chinook salmon, the escapement goal range in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000.
Wood River
Counts are also coming in from the Wood River counting tower.
There were 2,400 sockeye that passed the counting tower on Tuesday. Another 1,200 swam up as of 6 am this morning for a season total of just over 3,000 fish.
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
In the Naknek and Kvichak rivers, fishing crews caught 325 sockeye for a season total of 413 fish. The average drift delivery was 54 fish.
Naknek tower crew started working on Monday and is expecting to have escapement counts starting soon.
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, and the Alagnak River has a minimum escapement goal of 210,000.
Egegik
In Egegik, no fish were caught yesterday. The season’s total catch is 6,121 sockeye.
No escapement counts from Egegik yesterday, the season total still sits at 48 spawners returning upstream.
The Egegik 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 2,186 fish on Tuesday, with an average drift delivery of 75 sockeye.
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, 474 sockeye swam through the weir yesterday, for a total of 24,289.
An estimated 465 fish were part of the early run, and 9 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 72,841 sockeye on Tuesday for a season total of almost 364,719 sockeye.
Area M chinook season harvests are up to 488, with 63 of those fish caught yesterday.
Area M crews caught 45,837 pink salmon yesterday, bringing the season’s harvest to 101,028 pinks.
So far 7 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
Test fisheries crews were unable to set at Station 2 because there were marine mammals nearby, so they set at Station 3 instead.
No fish were caught at Stations 3, 4, and 22.
At the following test fishery stations, the smaller mesh size is 4 ½ inch and the larger mesh size is 5 ⅛. The subsequent catch index estimates how many sockeye would have been caught in both nets if they were both fished for exactly one hour.
Station 6 caught 3 fish in the small net and 16 fish in the big net, for a catch index of 42.
Station 8 caught 10 fish in the small net and 25 fish in the big net. That catch index is 75.
Station 10 caught 12 fish in the small net and 37 fish in the big net. That catch index is 105.
Station 12 caught 9 fish in the small net and none in the big net. That catch index is 22.
Station 14 caught 1 fish in the small net and none in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Station 16 caught 1 fish in the small net and none in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Station 18 caught 2 fish in the small net and none in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Station 20 caught 4 fish in the small net and 10 fish in the big net. That catch index is 10.
Station 22 caught no fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Station 24 caught 1 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
