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.
More time to comment on possibility of listing Gulf of Alaska king salmon under the Endangered Species Act
The deadline for public comment on a petition that would list Gulf of Alaska king salmon as endangered has been extended.
The petition was put forth by the Washington-based conservation group Wild Fish Conservancy in January. It claims that king salmon populations in the Gulf of Alaska are under threat and asks the federal government to list those kings under the Endangered Species Act.
In late May, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration found that the information presented in the petition warranted further consideration. This is called a “90 day finding.” It means that federal regulators have 90 days to decide if they want to pursue further action on the petition. If they do, this kicks off a more comprehensive, year-long review that ends with a decision - either Gulf chinook populations don’t need more federal protections or they make the endangered species list. The latter could have far-reaching implications on how the species and their habitats are managed across Alaska.
This preliminary 90 day regulatory process includes a public comment period, which was set to end in late July.
However, NOAA announced yesterday [June 27] that they would extend it to September 6. Though, the federal agency also said that the 45-day extension doesn’t change the statutory deadline for the larger 90-day finding. In other words, the decision on whether they will move the petition forward to the next step in the process is still set for mid-August. NOAA urged those affected by the petition in any way to comment as soon as possible.
Seafood processing workers return to Bristol Bay
As the fishing season kicks off, thousands of workers are flying into Bristol Bay to work in essential seafood processing jobs in on-shore plants in Naknek, Egegik, Port Moller, Togiak and Dillingham. Processing involves tough jobs known for long hours, but overtime pay draws workers to the high volume, fast paced fishing season.
Workers come from all over the United States, territories like Puerto Rico and Guam, and from around the world - from Mexico, El Salvador, to the Philippines, Ukraine and Serbia. They unload tenders, handle, cut, process and package the massive Bristol Bay harvest to ship out to markets and tables across the globe.
In Dillingham, Silver Bay Seafoods bought out the now-defunct Peter Pan Seafoods plant in town. Some former Peter Pan workers returned, and some new Silver Bay workers from other fisheries are in the Bay for the first time. OBI Seafoods is still running the Wood River plant.
Former KDLG fisheries reporter Corinne Smith caught up with processing workers at the Dillingham library recently, waiting for the season and the processing work to start.
Today we hear from one worker, Erik Cruz, who’s 31 years old and hails from the Imperial Valley, the border region of California and Mexico. This is his fifth fishing season.
Cordova Fishing Season Opens
The Copper River fishing season launched in mid May, and marks the first run of the Alaska commercial fishing season, which has been through an economic tailspin over the last year. Fishing crews grappled with historically low prices, and processors sold and closed down plants over the winter. The Prince William Sound fishery is one of the most productive in the state, but fishing crews are also feeling the pressure. Former KDLG Fisheries Reporter Corinne Smith filed this report for Alaska Public Media’s Econ Report, from the Cordova harbor.
Messages to the Fleet
We have two messages to the fleet tonight:
Sending happy thoughts and lots of fish your way. Please be safe.
All my love to the captain. — From, Miss Denver
Hello from Theo to his uncle Jordan on the F/V Surf and to his uncle Dan and cousin Sophia on the F/V Wizard.
The Numbers
The baywide catch on Thursday was 682,284 fish, bringing the total season catch to 1,425,476.
Cumulative escapement is at an estimated 1,655,938 so far.
The total run as of Thursday, June 27 was estimated at over 3,081,414 sockeye.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets hauled in 364,784 fish on Thursday, for a total of 636,444 fish, with an average drift delivery of 561 sockeye.
The drift fleet has caught 79.6% of that total harvest, while Nushagak set netters have harvested 14.7%, and set netters in the Igushik have harvested about 5.7%.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted about 246,905 sockeye the other day, for a total of almost 639,670 sockeye up the Nushagak so far.
2,794 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar, for a total of just over 15,248 so far this season.
About 20,977 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of around 116,360 so far.
The Nushagak River is now within its sockeye escapement goal range of 370,000 to 1.4 million fish. The river is estimated to see a 3.5 million sockeye run this season.
For chinook salmon, the escapement goal range in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000.
Wood River
At the Wood River counting tower on Thursday, sockeye counts continued to skyrocket. About 478,404 sockeye passed, bringing the total escapement to over 913,428, with another 102,198 fish passing the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning.
The Wood River is now within its escapement goal range of 700,000 to 3 million fish, and the forecast is for around 7.8 million sockeye.
Igushik
The Igushik tower crew counted just 684 fish yesterday, for a total of almost 1,164 thus far, with an additional 144 fish counted as of 6 a.m. this morning.
Togiak
Fishing crews in Togiak caught 1,487 fish on Thursday, for a total catch of roughly 4,625 so far.
Togiak’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 caught almost 49,859 fish yesterday. The season total stands at around 78,268 fish, with an average drift delivery of 158 sockeye. So far, drifters in the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers have caught 75.6% of the season’s total catch. Setnetters on the Kvichak have caught 18.5% of the season’s catch and setnetters on the Naknek have caught 6%.
The Naknek tower crew counted 858 spawners yesterday, making their total an estimated 4,698 fish.
And the Kvichak tower crew counted 942 fish yesterday, their total is at 1,848.
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
Egegik fleets brought in 170,359 fish yesterday, making the cumulative catch 497,531, with an average drift delivery of 683 sockeye. So far, Egegik drifters have caught 79.2% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 20.8%.
79,578 spawners were counted passing the towers in Egegik yesterday, making the season’s total escapement nearly 91,668 fish. The total season run so far for Egegik is just over 589,199.
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 crews hauled in almost 95,795 fish yesterday, and their season’s catch is 208,608, with an average drift delivery of 665 sockeye. So far, Ugashik drifters have caught 88% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 12%.
Ugashik escapement counts are now coming in. 3,462 fish were counted on Thursday and the total run for the season is now 212,070.
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.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 239 permits on 176 boats. That will move up slightly to 240 permits on 177 boats. D boats will stay at 63.
The Ugashik District has 179 permits on 121 boats, which will increase to 185 permits on 125 boats by Sunday. DBoats will move up from 58 to 60.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 326 permits on 250 boats. That will bump up to 330 permits on 253 boats by Sunday. DBoats will increase from 76 to 77.
In the Nushagak, there are 750 permits on 540 boats. By Sunday, that will increase to 754 permits on 543 boats. DBoats will increase from 210 to 211.
The Togiak District will remain the same at 15 permits on 15 boats.
In total bay-wide, there are 1,509 active permits on 1,102 boats and 407 DBoats.
Chignik River weir
At the Chignik River weir, 19,186 sockeye swam through the weir on Thursday, for a season total of 157,771 so far.
Roughly 17,655 fish were part of the early run, and 1,531 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M, fleets harvested around 33,749 sockeye on Thursday for a season total of almost 1,135,894.
31 chinook were caught in Area M yesterday, bringing the total season harvest to just over 1,428 so far.
978 chum were caught yesterday. Their season harvest is over 375,419.
No coho were caught on Thursday. Their season total is still 138.
346 pinks were caught, bringing the pink’s season total to over 257,594.
The majority of commercial harvests this season have been caught on the South Peninsula by South Unimak and Shumagin Islands fleets, with sockeye harvests also coming in from Port Moller to Outer Point Heiden and Nelson Lagoon.
And now on to the Port Moller Test Fishery:
The test fishery just released their stock composition estimates for June 27th.
The largest percentage of the fish sampled were swimming towards the Kvichak River — an estimated 24 percent were headed there.
About 21 percent of the sampled sockeye were swimming towards the Egegik River.
An estimated 17 percent of the samplings were on their way to the Ugashik River, and another 15 percent to the Wood River.
About 11 percent were heading towards the Nushagak River and the estimate for the Alagnak river is 4 percent.
Another 4 percent of the fish sampled are on their way to the Naknek River, and less than 1% are on their way to both the North Peninsula, and the Igushik, Togiak, and Kuskokwim Rivers.
North Peninsula 0.7%
Ugashik 17.4%
Egegik 20.9%
Naknek 3.9%
Alagnak 4.1%
Kvichak 24.4%
Nushagak 11.1%
Wood 15.2%
Igushik 1.1%
Togiak 0.1%
Kuskokwim 1.1%
Once again, the weather was rough on Thursday, limiting test fishery crews to stations 4-18 only.
No fish were caught at station 4. We’re changing up how we read out the Port Moller numbers–we want to make sure we’re bringing you the most up-to-date and useful information.
The catch index is the number of fish that would be caught in both the small mesh and the big mesh if the station were fished for a full hour. The small mesh is 4 ½ inches, and the large mesh is 5 ⅛ inches.
Station 6 had a catch index of 203.
Station 8 had a catch index of 135.
Station 10 had a catch index of 74.
Station 12 had a catch index of 5.
Station 14 had a catch index of 12.
Station 16 had a catch index of 7.
Station 18 had a catch index of 21.
Overall, yesterday’s mean catch index was 46, which is down from the last two days. Test fishery crews say they’ll need more days of fuller coverage to infer anything from those numbers, but one thing is certain: a lot of fish passed the test fishery from June 25th to June 27th.
Across stations yesterday, 143 fish were caught in the small mesh, and 70 fish were caught in the big mesh. So far this season, 62% of the test fishery catches were in the small mesh, and 38% of the catches were in the big mesh.
The mean length of fish yesterday in the small mesh was 486 mm, and the mean length of fish caught in the big mesh was 511 mm, that’s just a bit above the season average so far, or 483 mm fish in the small mesh, and 507 mm fish in the big mesh.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
