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Bristol Bay Fisheries Report: July 19, 2024

The F/V Bailey Louise on the water near Naknek.
Jaylon Kosbruk
/
KDLG
The F/V Bailey Louise on the water near Naknek.

Counts are down today compared to yesterday throughout districts, with the Naknek/Kvichak continuing to bring in the majority of the daily harvest. A recent Supreme Court decision could have important implications for fisheries in Bristol Bay. As the season winds down, many fishing crews are hauling boats in. For Alaska residents: if you want to vote in the state primary, the deadline to register to vote is this Sunday, July 21.

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.

Supreme Court’s Trawl Bycatch Case Casts a Wide Net

A recent Supreme Court decision could have important implications for fisheries in Alaska. Last month, the Supreme Court overturned a legal principle called Chevron deference. For 40 years, that principle gave federal agencies wide authority to interpret the gray area in laws passed by Congress. Now, more of that authority will go to judges.

The decision came after a legal battle over who should pay for bycatch monitors on trawl boats. The potential effects extend to all federally regulated industries, but KDLG’s Meg Duff looks at the impact on fisheries in particular.

Supreme Court’s Trawl Bycatch Case Casts a Wide Net

In Dillingham, some fishing crews bring in boats for the season

As the season starts to wind down, many fishing crews are weighing whether to keep fishing or whether to pack it in and go home. At the Dillingham harbor yesterday, many crews were already scrubbing down their boats or pulling them out of the water.

In Dillingham, some fishing crews bring in boats for the season

Messages to the Fleet

We have 1 message to the fleet tonight.

To Capt. Sean Guffy, F/V Waterman: Guff, after a short discussion, we have replaced you with AI. At 03:00 hours, your vessel will operate independently and make it's own decisions. Please visit tender for automated deckhands. Your further participation will be limited to paying expenses. Good day. — The Committee 

We also have a handful of messages that recently washed up on shore from the shadowy depths of our inbox’s spam folder. If you are still out there, apologies for the slow delivery!

From June 30: To Capt. Elijah Henry, and both of the Tyler’s on the F/V Bristol Pride:
You all are so loved and so very much missed. Your families and pets (especially) cannot wait to have you home! Keep plugging away! — Love, Jennifer, Ethan, Ella, Rex, Dash, Lucy, Gizmo and all the cats!!

July 2: Shout out to Capt. Elijah Henry on the Bristol Pride - Ethan and I love you lots and miss you tons! Can’t wait to have you home! Tell the two Tyler’s we miss them too! — Love, Jennifer

July 9: To Brent Thompson, Happy (now very belated) Birthday! Wishing the captain and crew of the St. Charliett a wonderful day and year to come. — From your sister, family, and friends.

The Numbers

The baywide catch on Thursday was 622,706 fish, bringing the total season catch to 28,190,083. Cumulative escapement is at 18,922,510 so far. The total run as of Thursday, July 18 was estimated at 47,112,593 sockeye. That’s 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 115,631 fish on Thursday, for a total of 11,519,606. That’s almost 50% higher than the pre-season catch forecast of 7.9 million fish, with an average drift delivery of 388 sockeye. The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 18,102,468, which is also almost 50% higher than the pre-season forecast of 12.4 million fish.

The drift fleet has caught 75% of that total harvest, while Nushagak set netters have harvested 21%, and set netters in the Igushik have harvested 4%.

Nushagak River

The Nushagak River sonar counted 11,305sockeye on Thursday, for a total of 1,666,924 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.

424 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar, for a total of 41,396 so far this season. That's around three quarters of the way to the bottom end of the escapement goal range of 55,000 to 120,000 chinook in the Nushagak.

5,077 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 266,679.

Wood River 

38,244 sockeye passed the Wood River counting tower on Thursday, bringing the total escapement to 4,341,300, with another 3,432 fish passing the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning. That puts the Wood River more than a million fish above the top end of its escapement goal range of 700,000 to 3 million fish.

Igushik

The Igushik tower crew counted 40,260 fish yesterday, for a total of 574,638 so far, with an additional 6,246 fish counted as of 6 a.m. this morning. That’s more than double Igushik’s preseason escapement estimate of 210,000 fish.

Togiak

Fishing crews in Togiak caught 22,285 fish on Thursday, for a total catch of 226,352 so far. That’s almost halfway to the pre-season catch forecast of 500,000 fish, with an average drift delivery of 290 sockeye.

The Togiak tower crew counted 12,006 fish on Thursday, for a season total of 106,128 spawners, with another 3,234 fish counted as of 6 a.m. this morning, bringing the total run this season to 332,480.

The Togiak River is nearly halfway to its forecasted run of 680,000 fish, and it is over two thirds of the way to being within its escapement goal range of 120,000 to 270,000.

Naknek-Kvichak 

Naknek and Kvichak fishing fleets caught 273,236 fish yesterday, the season’s total catch stands at 7,955,796 fish. That’s higher than the pre-season catch forecast of around 7.6 million fish. Drifters in the Naknek and Kvichak Rivers have caught 80% of the season’s total catch. Setnetters on the Kvichak have caught 13% of the season’s catch and setnetters on the Naknek have caught 7%.

The Naknek tower crew counted 5,874 spawners yesterday, making their total an estimated 922,062 fish. That’s within the Naknek River’s escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million sockeye.

The Kvichak tower crew counted 465,648 fish yesterday, bringing their season total to 6,381,864. The Kvichak River is within the escapement goal range of 2 million to 10 million.

Around 100,194 fish were counted swimming in the Alagnak River yesterday, making their total roughly 2,255,784 The Alagnak River is well past its minimum escapement goal of 210,000.

The total season run for Naknek/Kvichak is 17,515,506 so far. That’s above the preseason estimate of a 15 million sockeye run.

Egegik 

Egegik fleets brought in 82,210 fish yesterday, making the cumulative catch 4,652,687. That’s past the pre-season catch forecast of 4.3 million fish, with an average drift delivery of 477 sockeye. Egegik drifters have caught 77% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 23%.

13,134 spawners were counted passing the towers in Egegik yesterday, making the season’s total escapement 1,104,750 fish. The Egegik river is within its escapement goal of 800,000 to 2 million fish. The total season run so far for Egegik is 5,757,437, which is slightly above the preseason run forecast of 5.5 million sockeye salmon.

Ugashik

Ugashik fleets brought in 129,344 fish yesterday, making the cumulative catch 3,835,642. That’s higher than the pre-season catch forecast of 3.6 million fish, with an average drift delivery of 753 sockeye. Ugashik drifters have caught 88% of the season’s total catch, and setnetters have caught 12%.

Around 74,406 fish were counted passing the Ugashik counting tower on Thursday, bringing total escapement to 1,569,060, which is past the upper end of the Ugashik district’s escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1.4 million fish.

Ugashik’s total run for the season is 5,404,702, surpassing the preseason forecast for this year’s total run size of 4.6 million.

Chignik River weir

At the Chignik River weir, 11,321 sockeye swam through the weir on Thursday, for a season total of 487,681 so far.

2,334 fish were part of the early run, and 8,987 fish were part of the late run.

Area M

Over in Area M, fleets harvested 37,710 sockeye on Thursday, for a season total of 2,131,775.

3 chinook were caught in Area M yesterday, their total season harvest is 5,382.

4,330 chum were caught yesterday. Their season harvest is 481,936.

31 coho were caught on Thursday. Their season total is 17,566.

And 36 pinks were caught. The pink’s season total is 312,054.

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 the Nelson Lagoon, and from the Northwestern District.

Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org or 907-842-2200

Meg Duff is a fisheries reporter for KDLG's Bristol Bay Fisheries Report. She is also a freelance journalist, writing and making audio stories for publications like Scientific American, MIT Technology Review, Outside, Slate and Yale Climate Connections. Meg has a master's in journalism from New York University.
Ryan Berkoski just finished his freshman year at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho. This summer, Ryan is working as an announcer at KDLG running Open Line, thanks to generous funding from BBEDC.