The Bristol Bay Sockeye Harvest Tops 15-Million Fish

Commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay hauled in another 268-thousand sockeye on Friday to push the season total to just over 15-million fish. The District with the largest harvest this season is the Naknek-Kvichak District where fishermen hauled in another 115-thousand sockeye on Friday to push the season total to over 4.8-million fish. Next up is the Egegik District where fishermen hauled in another 75-thousand sockeye on Friday to push the season total to over 4.7-million fish. Down in the Ugashik District fishermen hauled in another 39-thousand sockeye Friday to push the season total to over 2-million fish. Friday’s harvest in the Nushagak District was 20-thousand sockeye to push the season total to over 3.1-million. Fishermen in the Togiak District harvested 19-thousand sockeye on Friday to push the season total to over 242.1-thousand fish. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that on average there were 287-sockeye per drift delivery Friday in the Egegik District and the number is the Ugashik District was 219. The number was 170 in the Naknek-Kvichak District and it was 129 in the Nushagak District. The average drift delivery in the Togiak District on Friday was 135-sockeye. Now looking at escapement. A whopping 135.7-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement Friday to the Ugashik River to push the season total to over 542-thousand fish. That’s within the escapement goal of 500-thousand to 1.2-million sockeye. In addition, Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 250-thousand sockeye in the Ugashik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. In Egegik the escapement count Friday was 11-thousand sockeye to push the season total to over 1.1-million. That’s the mid-point of the escapement goal. Sockeye escapement to the Kvichak River was 23.5-thousand fish on Friday to push the season total to over 2-million. That means that the escapement goal for the Kvichak River has been achieved. Another 2.4-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement Friday to the Naknek River to push the season total to over 931-thousand fish. That means that the Naknek River has met the escapement goal. Sockeye escapement to the Igushik River was counted at 14.7-thousand fish on Friday to push the season total to nearly 357-thousand sockeye. That’s above the established escapement goal of 150-to-300-thousand fish. Another 3-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement to the Nushagak River on Friday to push the season total to over 879.4-thousand fish. That’s well above the established escapement goal of 370-to-840-thousand sockeye. Wood River escapement was counted at 8.9-thousand fish on Friday to push the season total to over 1.1-million. That’s within the escapement goal. In the Togiak District the sockeye escapement count Friday to the Togiak River was 5.5-thousand to push the season total to over 36.3-thousand. The escapement goal for the Togiak River is 150-thousand sockeye. The total run to Bristol Bay through Friday, including harvest, escapement and the in-river estimates, is over 22.3-million sockeye. That’s still 4-million fish short of the pre-season forecast of 26.3-million sockeye. The daily run summary can be found online on the ADF&G Bristol Bay website and the summaries are also posted in the Fish and Game offices in Dillingham and King Salmon.