Despite being known for having the world’s largest sockeye run, Bristol Bay is home to much more marine life than salmon—one of them being beluga whales. A recent study on the Bristol Bay belugas has revealed a complex mating system that may be keeping the species alive. KDLG’s Ryan Berkoski has more.
Egegik and Ugashik runs are both now well over their pre-season forecast, and still bringing in strong daily harvests. Up next we check in with area management biologist Stacy Vega to learn what these big runs mean for the remainder of the fishing season.
Messages to the Fleet
Sending good wishes to the captain and crew of the Pt. Defiance. A package is coming your way--should arrive Thursday or Friday via Silverbay.
Here is a quote from Ernest Hemingway's Old Man and the Sea:
Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would
rather be exact. Then when luck comes, you are ready.
Recognizing your hard work and hoping for good luck too!
Meg
The Numbers
The bay-wide catch on Sunday was 1,349,627 fish, bringing the cumulative catch to 26,323,398 sockeye; the catch forecast bay-wide is 32.26 million sockeye. Escapement yesterday was 424,762 fish, bringing the total run so far to 40,299,790 fish. The forecast this year estimates a total run of 44.05 million sockeye.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 224,070 fish on Sunday, for a total season harvest of 8,527,988, with an average drift delivery of 655 sockeye. 74.6% of harvest has been caught by the drift fleet, 22.3% by Nushagak set netters, and 3.1% by set-netters in the Igushik. The forecasted harvest is 13.9 million sockeye.
The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 14,373,223 sockeye. Their pre-season forecast is an 18.39 million fish run.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 17,392 sockeye on Sunday, for a total of 3,048,656 sockeye up the Nushagak so far.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see an 11.1 million fish run this season, and they are past their escapement goal range of 370,000 to 2.6 million fish.
334 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar; their total is 33,919 fish so far this season. The escapement goal range for those chinook salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000 fish.
840 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 167,770 fish.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted 39,678 sockeye on Sunday, making their total count 2,442,348 fish, with another -342 sockeye past the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning. (Note that the negative count is fish swimming the wrong way. They’re confused by the recent large tides and change directions).
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 7,458 fish yesterday, for a total escapement so far of 354,270 fish, with an additional 2,778 sockeye as of 6 a.m. this morning. They have an estimated run of 890,000 fish, and are within the escapement goal range of 150,000 to 400,000 fish.
Togiak
In Togiak, no fish were caught yesterday; their total season catch is 52,863 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 75 sockeye.
The Togiak tower crews counted 276 sockeye on Sunday, making their total count 4,926 fish, plus another 108 sockeye past the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning.
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
In the Naknek-Kvichak district, 628,024 fish were caught yesterday, bringing their total catch to 4,965,269, with an average drift delivery of 672 sockeye. Their forecasted season harvest is 6.2 million sockeye. So far, 16.1% of the district’s catch has been from Kvichak set-netters, 16.5% from Naknek set-netters, and 67.4% by the Naknek-Kvichak drift fleet.
Towers crews on the Naknek River counted 51,396 fish, for a total of 849,876 fish so far. The Naknek river is now within the escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million, and has an estimated inshore run of 3.9 million sockeye.
Kvichak crews counted 78,876 fish yesterday for a total of 2,662,374 sockeye so far. That’s within the Kvichak’s escapement goal range of 2 million to 10 million fish. The estimated inshore run for the Kvichak is 3.9 million fish.
Yesterday, Alagnak towers counted 100,728 fish, for a season total of 1,017,390 fish so far. The Alagnak River’s forecasted run is for 3.2 million sockeye, and they are past their minimum escapement goal of 210,000 sockeye.
The total run for Naknek-Kvichak is now 9,694,909 fish. The pre-season run forecast for the district is about 11 million fish.
Egegik
Egegik crews caught 288,118 fish yesterday, with an average drift delivery of 887 sockeye. Their harvest is forecasted at 7.5 million sockeye. Their season total catch is 9,732,590 sockeye so far. 83.2% of the harvest was caught by the drift fleet, and 16.8% by the set-netters.
74,940 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement to 1,801,440 fish so far. They are within their escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Overall, the total run for Egegik is 9,732,590 sockeye, surpassing the forecasted inshore run of 8.9 million fish.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in 209,415 fish yesterday; their season’s total catch is now 6,441,240 sockeye, with an average drift delivery yesterday of 1,034 sockeye. Ugashik has exceeded the forecasted harvest of 4.3 million fish. 88.4% of the catch was caught by the drift fleets, and 11.6% was caught by set-netters.
54,018 fish were counted swimming past the Ugashik towers, bringing the total escapement to 1,445,112 fish. They have exceeded their escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1.4 million sockeye.
The Ugashik total run is 6,441,240 fish so far, having exceeded the forecasted inshore run of 5.2 million fish.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 358 permits on 245 boats. That will increase to 360 permits on 246 boats by Wednesday, and the number of DBoats will rise from 114 to 115.
The Ugashik District has 310 permits on 209 boats, which will decrease to 302 permits on 205 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go down from 101 to 97.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 652 permits on 471 boats. That will go up to 701 permits on 512 boats by Wednesday. DBoats will go from 181 to 189.
In the Nushagak, there are 306 permits on 222 boats. In the next 2 days, that will decrease to 304 permits on 220 boats. DBoats will move down from 85 to 84.
The Togiak District has 23 permits on 23 boats, which will stay the same in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 1,649 active permits on 1,170 boats and 481 DBoats.
Chignik River Weir
At the Chignik River weir, 12,919 sockeye swam through the weir on Sunday, for a season total of 412,635 sockeye. 5,558 fish were part of the early run, and 7,361 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
No area M counts were released before the publication of tonight's show.
Port Moller Test Fishery:
Last Saturday, the Port Moller crews released their final catch update for the season. The weather was rough, but salmon were still caught in the districts that were fished.
For Port Moller catches on Saturday, no fish were caught at Station 10. Stations 2, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, and 24 were not fished.
Station 4 caught 22 fish in the small net and 18 fish in the big net. That catch index is 75.
Station 6 caught 3 fish in the small net and 37 fish in the big net. That catch index is 71.
Station 8 caught 3 fish in the small net and 15 fish in the big net. That catch index is 35.
Overall, the average catch index for Saturday was 18. The average length of fish caught in the small mesh was 504mm, and in the big mesh, 525mm.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org.
