Bristol Bay set netting used to be dominated by women. When the fishery's permit system started in the 70s, it had the highest rate of women permit holders in the state. But that's changed over the decades, and one researcher is digging into the decline and why it isn’t happening anywhere else. Jessie Sheldon reports.
A Manokotak man faces murder charges after allegedly hitting another man in the head with a boat anchor, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Troopers said in a statement posted online Wednesday that 38-year old Henry Ayojiak struck 35-year old Cody Ayojiak with the boat anchor at an Igushik River fishing site on June 26.
Troopers said the two men had gotten into an altercation. A troopers spokesperson described the men as “immediate family members.”
Cody Ayojiak was medevaced first to a Dillingham hospital and later to an Anchorage hospital. Despite receiving medical care, he was pronounced dead on July 4th, according to troopers.
A grand jury indicted Henry Ayojiak on July 9, charging him with second-degree murder and the lesser included charge of manslaughter. Troopers arrested him Wednesday, and he made an initial court appearance Thursday, during which a judge set bail at $150,000.
The next hearing in the case is set for August 25 in Dillingham.
Each day on the Bristol Bay Fisheries report, we report out catch indices and genetics analyses from the Port Moller Test Fishery-–a one-of-a-kind research fleet that provides essential data to the commercial sockeye fishery. Located 200 miles southwest of the Bristol Bay fishery, this is Port Moller’s 60th year of operation, helping managers, processors, and the fishing fleet better understand run size and timing.
KDLG spoke with Jordan Head, executive director of Bristol Bay Science and Research Institute, to learn what stood out in Port Moller’s data this season. We also covered other projects the research institute is embarking on, including the mark and recapture of Nushagak kings, and sockeye counts for the Nuyakuk River Hydroelectric Project.
Messages to the Fleet
Happy two month anniversary to Alex and Andrew and greetings to all of the Duta family fishing out of Egegik. Love, Mom and Dad.
The Numbers
The bay-wide catch on Thursday was 356,707 fish, bringing the cumulative catch to 28,484,324 sockeye; the catch forecast bay-wide is 32.26 million sockeye. Escapement yesterday was 115,825 fish, bringing the total run so far to 43,297,216 fish. The forecast this year estimates a total run of 44.05 million sockeye.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 59,966 fish on Thursday, for a total season harvest of 8,895,317, with an average drift delivery of 197 sockeye. The forecasted harvest is 13.9 million sockeye. 73.7% of harvest has been caught by the drift fleet, 23% by Nushagak set netters, and 3.3% by set-netters in the Igushik.
The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 14,908,267 sockeye. Their pre-season forecast is an 18.39 million fish run.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 8,629 sockeye on Thursday, for a total of 3,093,590 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.
303 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar; their total is 35,224 fish so far this season. The escapement goal range for chinook salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000 fish.
1,363 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 171,618 fish.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted 12,990 sockeye on Thursday, making their total count 2,522,802 fish, with another 1,704 sockeye past the tower as of 6 a.m. 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 11,664 fish yesterday, for a total escapement so far of 396,558 fish, with an additional 3,456 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, 11,284 fish were caught yesterday; their total season catch is 84,967 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 156 sockeye.
The Togiak tower crews counted 972 sockeye on Thursday, making their total count 8,340 fish, plus another 300 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, 70,336 fish were caught yesterday, bringing their total catch to 5,765,284, with an average drift delivery of 112 sockeye. Their forecasted season harvest is 6.2 million sockeye. So far, 15% of the district’s catch has been from Kvichak set-netters, 15.4% from Naknek set-netters, and 69.5% by the Naknek-Kvichak drift fleet.
Tower crews on the Naknek River counted 7,644 fish, for a total of 883,494 fish so far. The Naknek river is 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 6,924 fish yesterday for a total of 3,033,048 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 37,872 fish, for a season total of 1,295,232 fish so far. The Alagnak River’s forecasted run is for 3.2 million sockeye, and they are well past their minimum escapement goal of 210,000 sockeye.
The total run for Naknek-Kvichak is 10,976,757 fish, but still below the pre-season run forecast of 10.98 million fish.
Egegik
Egegik crews caught 163,104 fish yesterday, with an average drift delivery of 409 sockeye. Their season total catch is 8,571,718 sockeye so far, which is well above their harvest forecast of 7.5 million sockeye. 83.4% of the harvest was caught by the drift fleet, and 16.6% by the set-netters.
About 16,260 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement to 1,905,762 fish so far. They are within their escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Overall, the total run for Egegik is 10,477,480 sockeye, surpassing the forecasted inshore run of 8.9 million fish.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in 49,907 fish yesterday; their season’s total catch is now 5,153,644 sockeye, with an average drift delivery yesterday of 366 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.
12,870 fish were counted swimming past the Ugashik towers, bringing the total escapement to 1,599,066 fish. They have exceeded their escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1.4 million sockeye.
The Ugashik total run is 6,827,710 fish so far, having exceeded the forecasted inshore run of 5.2 million fish.
Vessel Registrations
Vessel registrations are no longer required for 2026, so no more registration data.
Chignik River Weir
At the Chignik River weir, 11,417 sockeye swam through the weir on Thursday, for a season total of 447,857 sockeye. 3,256 fish were part of the early run, and 8,161 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M yesterday, fleets harvested 40,472 sockeye for a season total of 3,941,586 fish.
2 chinook were caught, their total season harvest is 1,553 so far.
Note that there had been an error in chinook reports, and the number has since then been corrected.
Fleets caught 208 chum on Thursday, for a season total of 574,730.
1 pink was caught the other day, their harvest is 1,416,416.
6 Cohos were caught on Thursday, their total is 2,874.
A total of 5,937,16 million salmon across all species have been caught in Area M so far this season.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org.
