Today, diesel-powered boats fish Bristol Bay’s waters by the hundreds. But it wasn’t always that way. Motorized fishing vessels were once banned in Bristol Bay. And in their place, sailboats dominated the commercial fishery. This year marks 75 years since the ban on powerboat fishing was lifted. KDLG's Jessie Sheldon reports.
You can see the hoisting of the Libby 76’s sail at this year’s Fishtival event in Naknek, at the Seas the Day Celebration on July 24th. Tim Troll’s fourth edition of “Sailing for Salmon” will also be available for purchase at the Bristol Bay Historical Society Museum. There also will be an outdoor beer garden serving up Denali Brewing Company’s new Double Ender Pale Ale, which partnered with the Bristol Bay Historical Society to create the beer line.
Alaska Wildlife Troopers say a body recovered from a beach near Egegik on July 11th has been confirmed to be Seth Whiteman of Eagle River. Whiteman, a 22-year-old crewmember on the fishing vessel Sandman, was reported overboard on June 29th. The Coast Guard searched the area with Alaska State Troopers for several hours by boat and helicopter, but suspended the search later that same night.
A Coast Guard spokesperson said weather at the time of the search was approximately 17 mph winds gusting to 28 mph, with 5-foot seas and 7 miles of visibility, and that the cause of the incident is still under investigation. The Coast Guard said Whiteman was reportedly not wearing a life jacket. Next of kin have been notified.
On this final Weather Wednesday of the season, we checked in with Rick Thoman one last time to see when the stormy weather will pass and to get a broader picture of this year’s summer in Bristol Bay.
Last but not least we have another fishy poem to share this week by Maggie Parish. Parish is a second generation setnetter who's been fishing Bristol Bay since she was a child. She ran a drift boat for 5 years, but is now back to setnetting in Ugashik, and has this poem.
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 Tuesday was 99,188 fish, bringing the cumulative catch to 29,385,018 sockeye; the catch forecast bay-wide is 32.26 million sockeye. Escapement yesterday was 51,142 fish, bringing the total run so far to 44,530,237 fish, surpassing the total run forecast of 44.05 million sockeye.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 9,157 fish on Tuesday, for a total season harvest of 8,979,417, with an average drift delivery of 225 sockeye. The forecasted harvest is 13.9 million sockeye.
The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 15,133,894 sockeye. Their pre-season forecast is an 18.39 million fish run.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 6,148 sockeye on Tuesday, for a total of 3,117,991 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.
259 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar; their total is 35,944 fish so far this season. The escapement goal range for chinook salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000 fish.
2,868 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 180,952 fish.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted 5,124 sockeye on Tuesday, making their total count 2,562,042 fish, with another 1,134 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 15,234 fish yesterday, for a total escapement so far of 474,444 fish, with an additional 4,140 sockeye as of 6 a.m. this morning. They have an estimated run of 890,000 fish, and have surpassed the escapement goal range of 150,000 to 400,000 fish.
Togiak
In Togiak, 4,306 fish were caught yesterday; their total season catch is 124,496 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 139 sockeye.
The Togiak tower crews counted 3,180 sockeye on Tuesday, making their total count 22,326 fish, plus another 804 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, 18,872 fish were caught yesterday, bringing their total catch to 6,106,622, with an average drift delivery of 182 sockeye. Their forecasted season harvest is 6.2 million sockeye.
Tower crews on the Naknek River counted 1,608 fish, for a total of 892,326 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 1,428 fish yesterday for a total of 3,072,048 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 7,932 fish, for a season total of 1,388,394 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 11,459,390 fish, which is above the pre-season run forecast of 11 million fish.
Egegik
Egegik crews caught 39,751 fish yesterday, with an average drift delivery of 325 sockeye. Their season total catch is 8,840,829 sockeye so far, which is well above their harvest forecast of 7.5 million sockeye.
8,568 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement to 1,977,414 fish so far. They are within their escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Overall, the total run for Egegik is 10,818,243 sockeye, which is above the forecasted inshore run of 8.9 million fish.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in 27,102 fish yesterday; their season’s total catch is now 5,333,654 sockeye, with an average drift delivery yesterday of 307 sockeye. Ugashik has exceeded the forecasted harvest of 4.3 million fish.
1,920 fish were counted swimming past the Ugashik towers, bringing the total escapement to 1,638,234 fish. They have exceeded their escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1.4 million sockeye.
The Ugashik total run is 6,971,888 fish so far, having exceeded the forecasted inshore run of 5.2 million fish.
Chignik River Weir
At the Chignik River weir, 15,140 sockeye swam through the weir on Tuesday, for a season total of 536,277 sockeye.
Area M
Over in Area M yesterday, fleets harvested 15,947 sockeye for a season total of 4,045,810 fish.
No chinook were caught, their total season harvest is 2,068 so far.
Fleets caught 1,034 chum on Tuesday, for a season total of 611,569.
177 pinks were caught the other day, their harvest is 1,482,893.
59 Cohos were caught on Tuesday, their total is 9,946.
A total of 6,152,287 salmon across all species have been caught in Area M so far this season.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org.
