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.
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Department of Natural Resources Commissioner visits Wood Tikchik State Park
Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner John Boyle visited Wood Tikchik State park for the first time last week.
While the commissioner was there, he met with Nushagak Cooperative representatives to learn about a proposed hydroelectric project on the Nuyakuk River, which is located within the state park.
Commissioner Boyle stopped by the KDLG office on Friday for a conversation about that trip. We talked about park management, the hydro project, how state and federal lands interact in Alaska, and how to balance conservation and development.
Naknek/Kvichak emergency closure
Last week, drift boats and set netters were fishing every tide in the Naknek Kvichak District. Then, on Saturday, the department of fish and game issued an emergency closure, rescinding previously announced openers.
That closure was put into place by the department of fish and game because the Naknek river was at risk of not meeting its escapement goal. In fact, escapement was the lowest it had been in 51 years for this point in the season.
To help more fish get up the Naknek River, Eastside biologist Travis Elison kept fishing closed in the Naknek and Kvichak sections on Sunday and Monday, with a setnet opener Monday in the Alagnak. Today, after an aerial flyover, the department announced that on Tuesday, there will be a Kvichak opener for both drift boats and set netters. Elison talked with KDLG about how he made those decisions and what to expect next.
One Naknek resident decided to take advantage of the Naknek/Kvichak fishing pause to test out a business idea: a new shore to ship delivery service.
The Numbers
The baywide catch on Sunday was 635,130 fish, bringing the total season catch to 24,549,755. Cumulative escapement is at 15,246,245 so far. The total run as of Sunday, July 14 was estimated at 41,849,012 sockeye. That’s slightly above the preseason prediction of 39 million fish, but still within the preseason estimated range of 25 to 53 million fish.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets hauled in 383,718 fish on Sunday, for a total of 10,629,123 fish. That’s about 25% higher than the pre-season catch forecast of 8.3 million fish, with an average drift delivery of 1,095 sockeye. The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 16,717,292, which is about a third higher than the pre-season forecast of 12.4 million fish.
The drift fleet has caught 75.8% of that total harvest, while Nushagak set netters have harvested 20.7%, and set netters in the Igushik have harvested about 3.5%.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 36,611 sockeye on Sunday, for a total of almost 1,591,463 sockeye up the Nushagak so far. And the Nushagak River is past its sockeye escapement goal range of 370,000 to 1.4 million fish.
65 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar, for a total of 37,117 so far this season. That's still below the escapement goal range of 55,000 to 120,000 chinook in the Nushagak.
6,583 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 246,644.
Wood River
101,670 sockeye passed the Wood River counting tower on Sunday, bringing the total escapement to 4,106,928, with another 11,496 fish passing the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning. The Wood River is past its escapement goal range of 700,000 to 3 million fish.
Igushik
The Igushik tower crew counted 42,594 fish yesterday, for a total of 389,778 so far, with an additional 9,606 fish counted as of 6 a.m. this morning. That’s above Igushik’s preseason escapement estimate of 210,000 fish.
Togiak
Fishing crews in Togiak caught 10,220 fish on Sunday, for a total catch of 120,782 so far, with an average drift delivery of 372 sockeye.
The Togiak tower crew counted 4,380 fish on Sunday, for a season total of 61,542, with another 1,590 fish counted as of 6 a.m. this morning, bringing the total run this season to 182,324.
The Togiak River is a sixth of the way to its forecasted run of 680,000 fish, and it is a half of the way to being within its escapement goal range of 120,000 to 270,000.
Naknek-Kvichak
Naknek and Kvichak fishing fleets caught no fish yesterday after an emergency closure this weekend. The season’s total catch stands at 6,538,803 fish. So far, drifters in the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers have caught 79.3% of the season’s total catch. Setnetters on the Kvichak have caught 13.9% of the season’s catch and setnetters on the Naknek have caught 6.8%.
The Naknek tower crew counted 35,214 spawners yesterday, making their total an estimated 665,964 fish.
The Kvichak tower crew counted about 139,248 fish yesterday, bringing their season total to 4,692,870. Another 1.8 million fish are estimated to be in-river, between the commercial fishing district and the counting tower.
The total season run for Naknek/Kvichak is 15,237,093 so far.
Around 103,452 fish were counted swimming in the Alagnak River yesterday, making their total over 1,539,456.
A run of approximately 15 million sockeye was expected across the Naknek/Kvichak district this season, and it has now surpassed that goal!
The Naknek River is over two thirds of the way to its escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million sockeye. The Kvichak River is within the escapement goal range of 2 million to 10 million, and the Alagnak River is well past its minimum escapement goal of 210,000.
Egegik
Egegik fleets brought in 99,352 fish yesterday, making the cumulative catch 4,106,719 with an average drift delivery of 574 sockeye. So far, Egegik drifters have caught 76.8% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 23.2%.
13,266 spawners were counted passing the towers in Egegik yesterday, making the season’s total escapement over 1,033,656 fish. The total season run so far for Egegik is 5,140,375, which is still slightly below the total run forecast of 5.5 million sockeye salmon. The Egegik river is within its escapement goal of 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Ugashik
Ugashik fleets brought in 141,852 fish yesterday, making the cumulative catch 3,154,340, with an average drift delivery of 1,213 sockeye. So far, Ugashik drifters have caught 87.5% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 12.5%.
Around 100,266 fish were counted passing the Ugashik counting tower on Sunday, bringing total escapement to 1,164,588, which is still within the Ugashik district’s escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1.4 million fish.
Another 250,000 fish were estimated in-river. That brings the total run for the season to 4,568,928, which was the preseason forecast for this year’s total run size.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 174 permits on 124 boats. That will go up to 177 permits on 126 boats in the next 2 days. D boats will go from 50 to 51.
The Ugashik District has 269 permits on 191 boats, which will increase to 274 permits on 196 boats by Wednesday. DBoats will stay at 78.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 842 permits on 615 boats. That will move up to 851 permits on 621 boats by Wednesday. DBoats will bump up from 227 to 230.
In the Nushagak, there are 336 permits on 246 boats. By Wednesday, that will increase to 341 permits on 250 boats. DBoats will move up from 90 to 91.
The Togiak District has 22 permits on 22 boats, which will stay the same in the next 2 days.
In total bay-wide, there are 1,643 active permits on 1,198 boats and 445 DBoats.
Chignik River weir
At the Chignik River weir, 16,135 sockeye swam through the weir on Sunday, for a season total of 436,605 so far.
5,478 fish were part of the early run, and 10,657 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M, counts have certainty begun to decrease. Fleets harvested 2,496 sockeye on Sunday for a season total of 1.9 million 1,924,865.
No chinook were caught in Area M yesterday, their total season harvest is 3,420.
No chum were caught yesterday. Their season harvest is 449,061.
No coho were caught on Sunday. Their season total is 4,462.
And no pinks were caught. The pink’s season total is 286,711.
Most commercial harvests in Area M this season have been caught by South Unimak and Shumagin Islands fleets, with harvest also coming in from Cold Bay, the Dolgoi Island area and from Morzhovoi Bay to South Unimak on the South Peninsula. And, on the North Peninsula, from Port Moller to Outer Point Heiden, from Nelson Lagoon, and from the Northwestern District.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200.
