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.
Set Netter Safety
Bristol Bay fishing is known to be fast paced. Boats field intense, rapidly changing weather. For set netters, that means navigating changing conditions in open skiffs — often with too little sleep, nets that pose a tripping hazard, and stormy weather. In other words, set netting can be dangerous.
Ahead of the season, a crew safety course offered by the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, or AMSEA highlighted set netter safety for attendees in Dillingham this past week. KDLG’s Meg Duff has more.
Naknek/Kvichak Update with Area Management Biologist Travis Ellison
Tower crews started counting escapement on the Naknek River this morning, and the first Port Moller stock composition estimate of the season indicates a lot of fish on their way to the Kvichak River-–a slightly unexpected destination for this early in the season. KDLG’s Jessie Sheldon checked in with area management biologist Travis Ellison for more.
Fired-up Fishermen
We know fishermen get fired up in Bristol Bay. Tonight, we check back in with Sam Hanson of Nine Mile Falls, Washington, on what he's fired up about: farmed fish.
Messages to the Fleet
To Capt. Sean Guffy, F/V Waterman
Decode sheet #3. PURPLE. SUNRISE. CALM. NIPPLE
—The Commitee
The Numbers
The baywide catch on Thursday was just over 11,300 [11,333] fish, bringing the total season catch to about 42,000 [42,128].
Nushagak
At the Nushagak River sonar, fish counts continue to pick up. 27,057 sockeye passed on Thursday for a total of 51,170 fish up the river so far.
2,785 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar, for a total of 7,209 so far this season.
About 17,012 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 30,221 thus far.
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
A push of about 63,300 sockeye passed the Wood River counting tower on Thursday, bringing the total escapement to 88,890, with another 12,366 fish passing the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning.
The escapement goal range for the Wood River this year is 700,000 to 3 million fish, and the forecast is for around 7.8 million sockeye.
Igushik counts are scheduled to begin on June 23rd.
Togiak
Still no numbers from Togiak yet. The district’s escapement counts are scheduled to begin on July 5th.
The total inshore run for Togiak River sockeye is forecasted to be around 680,000 fish, with an escapement goal range of 120,000 to 270,000.
Naknek-Kvichak
Naknek and Kvichak fishing fleets brought in just 611 fish yesterday, for a season total of 1,605 fish. The average drift delivery was 28 fish. So far, drifters in the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers have caught 44.4% of the season’s total catch. Setnetters on the Kichak have caught 44.6% of the season’s catch and setnetters on the Naknek have caught 11%.
The Naknek tower crew has started counting, and 30 spawners have made it upstream as of this morning.
Counts from the Kvichak tower crew should start coming in soon, 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
No fish were caught in Egegik yesterday, the season’s cumulative catch still sits at 21,941. So far, Egegik drifters have caught 62.7% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 37.3%.
2,658 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement to 2,754 fish so far.
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
Ugashik brought in 10,722 fish yesterday. The season’s cumulative catch is at 18,582 fish, with an average drift delivery of 189 fish. So far, Ugashik drifters have caught 98.9% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 1.1%.
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
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 260 permits on 185 boats. That will increase to 264 permits on 188 boats by Sunday, and the number of DBoats will increase from 75 to 76.
The Ugashik District has 106 permits on 71 boats, which will decrease to 103 permits on 69 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go from 35 to 34 by Sunday.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 51 permits on 43 boats. That will bump up to 53 permits on 44 boats by Sunday. DBoats will increase from 8 to 9 in 2 days.
In the Nushagak, there are 45 permits on 37 boats. In the next 2 days, that will become 51 permits on 41 boats. DBoats will move up from 8 to 10.
The Togiak District has 12 permits on 12 boats, which will stay the same in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 474 active permits on 348 boats and 126 DBoats.
Chignik River weir
At the Chignik River weir, 12,567 sockeye swam through the weir Thursday, for a season total of 37,969 so far.
An estimated 12,244 fish were part of the early run, and roughly 323 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M, fleets harvested 116,515 sockeye on Thursday for a season total of 499,120 sockeye.
Only 34 chinook were caught in Area M yesterday, bringing the total season harvest to 582 so far.
21,905 pinks were harvested on Thursday, making the current season total over 129,297.
110 Coho were caught the other day, bringing their season harvest up to 117.
And 25,578 chum were brought in yesterday, bringing their total to 169,884.
The majority of commercial harvests this season have been caught on the South Peninsula by South Unimak and Shumagin Islands fleets, with sockeye harvests starting to come in from the Nelson Lagoon and Port Moller.
Port Moller Test Fishery
After collecting enough samples, test fishery crews report an average sockeye weight of 4.6 lbs so far this season, combining samples from both the small and large mesh sizes.
The crew also confirmed that it is indeed a pod of Pacific White Sided Dolphins that are to blame for test fishery interruptions at station 2 over the last few days.
Crews report that the catch index continues to build. For Port Moller catches on Thursday, no fish were caught at Stations, 2, 4, 18, and 24.
At the following test fishery stations, the smaller mesh size is 4 ½ inch and the bigger mesh size is 5 ⅛.
Station 6 caught 36 fish in the small net and 39 fish in the big net. That catch index is 136.
Station 8 caught 34 fish in the small net and 13 fish in the big net. That catch index is 88.
Station 10 caught 48 fish in the small net and 13 fish in the big net. That catch index is 144.
Station 12 caught 9 fish in the small net and 13 fish in the big net. That catch index is 43.
Station 14 caught 32 fish in the small net and 12 fish in the big net. That catch index is 88.
Station 16 caught 2 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 5.
Station 20 caught 0 fish in the small net and 22 fish in the big net. That catch index is 41.
Station 22 caught 0 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
