We have news of a man overboard while fishing in Bristol Bay with basic details provided by the Coast Guard, and we are working to learn more.
On Monday afternoon at 4:20pm, the US Coast Guard received a report of a man overboard from the F/V Sandman in the vicinity of Egegik Bay, about 40 miles southwest of Naknek. The Coast Guard searched the area with Alaska State Troopers for several hours by boat and helicopter. They say that the search was suspended at 11:36pm, pending the development of new information.
Weather on scene was approximately 17 mph winds, gusting to 28 mph, with 5-foot seas and 7 miles of visibility, a Coast Guard spokesperson said on Tuesday. The man has not been publicly identified or located, as of Tuesday afternoon. He was reportedly not wearing a life jacket.
A fisherman who heard the initial radio callout told KDLG that the man overboard was described as wearing a blue jacket.
Many people expressed concerns on Facebook on Monday evening. The Coast Guard reports that the cause of the incident is under investigation at this time. We are working to learn more details about this tragic accident.
The Numbers
The baywide catch on Monday was 1,452,303 fish, bringing the cumulative catch to 6,622,025 sockeye, while the catch forecast sits at 32.26 million sockeye. Escapement yesterday was 1,000,543 fish, bringing the run so far to 11,897,021 fish. The forecast this year expects a total run of 44.05 million sockeye.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 631,532 fish on Monday, for a total of 2,451,117 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 524 sockeye. The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 6,428,021 fish.
Their pre-season forecast is an 18.39 million run with a potential surplus of 13.9 million fish.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 269,161 sockeye on Monday, for a total of 2,296,076 sockeye up the Nushagak so far.
1,287 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar yesterday; their total is 18,437 fish so far this season. 7,977 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 139,147 fish.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see an 11.1 million fish run this season, and they are well within their escapement goal range of 370,000 to 2.6 million fish.
The escapement goal range for king salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000 fish.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted 409,968 sockeye on Monday, making their total count 1,625,340 fish, plus another 33,864 sockeye past the tower as of 6 am this morning.
The Wood River is estimated to see a 6.43 million fish run this season, and they are within their escapement goal range of 700,000 to 2.8 million fish.
Igushik
Igushik crews counted 18,336 fish yesterday, for a total of 55,488 fish, with an additional 4,200 sockeye as of 6am this morning. They have an estimated run of 890,000 fish, and an escapement goal range of 150,000 to 400,000 fish.
Togiak
1,658 fish were caught in Togiak the other day, their total is 4,083 sockeye.
No Togiak escapement counts yet. 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
193,903 fish were caught in the Naknek-Kvichak District yesterday, their total catch is 539,147 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 684 sockeye.
The Naknek towers counted 27,366 fish yesterday, for a total of 182,544 fish so far. The Naknek river has an estimated inshore run of 3.9 million sockeye, and the escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million.
Kvichak crews counted 145,980 fish for a total of 218,022 sockeye so far. Their estimated run is 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.
The total run for Naknek-Kvichak is at 1,239,713 fish. The pre-season run forecast for the district is around 11 million fish, with a projected surplus of 6.2 million sockeye.
Egegik
294,915 fish were caught yesterday in Egegik, with an average drift delivery of 758 sockeye, and their season total catch is 2,160,664 sockeye.
129,534 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement up to 493,752 fish so far. Their escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Overall, the total run for Egegik sits at 2,754,416 sockeye, and the forecasted inshore run is for 8.9 million fish, with a potential surplus of 7.5 million for harvest.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in 330,295 fish yesterday; their season’s catch is 1,467,014 sockeye. The forecast predicts a surplus of 4.3 million fish for harvest.
198 fish were counted passing by the Ugashik towers, for a total escapement of 3,774. Their escapement goal range is 500,000 to 1.4 million sockeye.
The Ugashik total run is 1,470,788 so far, the inshore run is forecasted at 5.2 million fish.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 437 permits on 305 boats. That will decrease to 436 permits on 304 boats by Thursday, and the number of DBoats will stay at 132.
The Ugashik District has 207 permits on 140 boats, which will increase to 230 permits on 153 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go up from 67 to 77.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 190 permits on 150 boats. That will increase to 240 permits on 186 boats by Thursday. DBoats will go from 40 to 54.
In the Nushagak, there are 714 permits on 505 boats. In the next 2 days, that will move down to 700 permits on 495 boats. DBoats will go from 209 to 205.
The Togiak District has 21 permits on 21 boats, which will stay the same in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 1,569 active permits on 1,121 boats and 448 DBoats.
Chignik River Weir
At the Chignik River weir, 7,866 sockeye swam through the weir on Monday, for a season total of 291,352 sockeye. 6,874 fish were part of the early run and 992 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
There is no harvest report for Area M.
Port Moller Test Fishery:
The daily catch index was down again today, but fishing conditions were poor once again, and they say that they “see no indication that the total run magnitude will be lighter than the preseason forecast.”
For Port Moller catches on Monday, no fish were caught at Stations 14 and 20, and stations 2, 4, and 24 were not fished.
Station 6 caught 40 fish in the small net and 65 fish in the big net. That catch index is 158.
Station 8 caught 48 fish in the small net and 15 fish in the big net. That catch index is 135.
Station 10 caught 6 fish in the small net and 17 fish in the big net. That catch index is 51.
Station 12 caught 7 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 15.
Station 16 caught 1 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Station 18 caught 1 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Station 22 caught 1 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Overall, the average catch index for Monday was 39. The average length of fish caught in the small mesh was 514mm, and 527mmfor fish in the big mesh.
Messages to the Fleet
We have NO messages to the fleet tonight
If you’d like to send a message to the fleet or get in touch with us, give us a call at 842-5281 or shoot us an email at fish@kdlg.org.
