This winter, the Alaska Board of Fisheries passed several new regulations for Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery. The changes include measures in response to declining king salmon populations, which were first designated as a stock of concern in the Nushagak district back in 2022. But these regulations won’t go into effect until mid-July. But as KDLG's Jessie Sheldon reports, the regulations won't go into effect until mid-July, when the season is almost over.
Announcements concerning Bristol Bay fishery regulations can be found on the Alaska Department of Fish & Game’s website through the season.
Messages to the Fleet
No messages to the fleet tonight. If you’d like to send a message to the fleet, give us a call at 842-5281 or send an email to fish@kdlg.org.
The Numbers
The bay-wide catch on Sunday was 3,073 fish, all caught in the Nushagak, bringing the cumulative catch to about 278,758 fish. The total run as of yesterday was 491,863 fish, and total escapement was at 208,105 fish.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 3,073 fish on Sunday, for a total of 15,556 fish. The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 202,337 fish.
In the Nushagak District, the pre-season forecast is a 18.39 million run with a potential surplus of 13.9 million fish.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 39,043 sockeye on Sunday, for a total of 156,097 sockeye up the Nushagak so far, with another 9,341 past the sonar this morning.
14 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar yesterday; their total is 5,512 so far this season. 332 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 37,000.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see an 11.1 million fish run this season, with an escapement goal range of 370,000 to 2.6 million.
The escapement goal range for king salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted 10,968 sockeye on Sunday for a total so far of 30,684, plus another 3,114 past the tower as of 6 am this morning.
The Wood River is estimated to see a 6.43 million fish run this season, with an escapement goal range of 700,000 to 2.8 million.
Igushik
Igushik counts are scheduled to begin on June 25th. They have an estimated run of 890,000 fish, and an escapement goal range of 150,000 to 400,000.
Togiak
No Togiak counts yet, the district’s tower crews are scheduled to begin around July 4th. The Togiak River’s forecasted inshore sockeye run this season is 530,000 fish, with an escapement goal range of 120,000 to 270,000.
Naknek-Kvichak
No catch counts are available for the Naknek-Kvichak District yet, but the pre-season run forecast for the district is around 11 million fish, with a projected surplus of 6.2 million sockeye.
The Naknek towers counted just 54 fish yesterday, for a total of 90 so far. The Naknek’s river has an estimated inshore run of 3.9 million sockeye, and the escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million.
No escapement counts from the Kvichak crews yet, but their estimated run is also 3.9 million fish, and their escapement goal range is at 2 million to 10 million.
The Alagnak River’s forecasted run is about 3.2 million sockeye, with an escapement goal of a minimum of 210,000 sockeye.
Egegik
No fish were caught yesterday in Egegik, but their season total catch is 135,059 fish so far.
3,558 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement up to 21,234 fish so far.
In Egegik, the forecasted inshore run is for 8.9 million fish. The escapement goal range for the Egegik River is 800,000 to 2 million fish, leaving a potential surplus of 7.5 million for harvest.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in no fish yesterday, their season’s catch is just over 128,143 fish.
No escapement numbers yet, but the Ugashik inshore run is forecasted at 5.2 million fish. Their escapement goal range is 500,000 to 1.4 million, leaving a potential surplus of 4.3 million fish for harvest.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 354 permits on 243 boats. That will increase to 359 permits on 247 boats by Wednesday, and the number of DBoats will increase from 111 to 112.
The Ugashik District has 260 permits on 171 boats, which will increase to 294 permits on 196 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go from 89 to 98 by Wednesday.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 48 permits on 40 boats. That will increase to 58 permits on 48 boats by Wednesday. DBoats will go from 8 to 10.
In the Nushagak, there are 55 permits on 44 boats. In the next 2 days, that will become 61 permits on 49 boats. DBoats will move up from 11 to 12.
The Togiak District has 8 permits on 8 boats, which will increase to 9 permits on 9 boats in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 725 active permits on 506 boats and 219 DBoats.
Chignik River weir
At the Chignik River weir, 7,575 sockeye swam through the weir on Sunday, for a season total of 211,955 fish.
Area M
Over in Area M yesterday, fleets harvested 130,050 sockeye for a season total of 1,524,835 fish.
Only 27 chinook were caught yesterday, bringing the total season harvest to 911 thus far.
Fleets caught 46,258 chum on Sunday, for a total of 364,509 fish.
And 106,949 pinks were caught the other day, bringing their harvest to 979,474 fish.
No Cohos were caught on Sunday, their total is 486.
A total of 2,870,215 million fish across all species have been caught in Area M so far this season. The majority of commercial harvests have been caught on the South Peninsula by South Unimak and Shumagin Islands fleets.
Port Moller Test Fishery:
Over the weekend, Port Moller’s second stock composition came in, covering June 18–19.
North Peninsula 0.4%
Ugashik 8.0%
Egegik 27.5%
Naknek 1.6%
Alagnak 0.1%
Kvichak 8.6%
Nushagak 29.8%
Wood 21.9%
Igushik 0.2%
Togiak 0.3%
Kuskokwim 1.5%
Yesterday, Port Moller crews recorded the largest index of the year so far at Station 12. They say this indicates that the run is continuing to increase at the inshore stations.
For Port Moller catches on Sunday, no fish were caught at Stations 4, 14, 16, 20, and 24.
At the following test fishery stations, the smaller mesh size is 4 ½ inch and the bigger mesh size is 5 ⅛ inch.
Station 2 caught 1 fish in the small net and 4 fish in the big net. That catch index is 3.
Station 6 caught 1 fish in the small net and 13 fish in the big net. That catch index is 29.
Station 8 caught 17 fish in the small net and 12 fish in the big net. That catch index is 56.
Station 10 caught 33 fish in the small net and 27 fish in the big net. That catch index is 109.
Station 12 caught 106 fish in the small net and 99 fish in the big net. That catch index is 424.
Station 18 caught 0 fish in the small net and 4 fish in the big net. That catch index is 8.
Station 22 caught 2 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 5.
Overall, the average catch index for Sunday was 53. The average length of fish caught in the small mesh was 517mm, and 531mm for fish in the big mesh.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org.
