Nearly 10-Million Sockeye Harvested in Bristol Bay

The sockeye harvest in Bristol Bay slowed down on Sunday as the large catches late last week overwhelmed the Bay’s processing sector resulting in limits and suspension placed on many fishermen. Sunday’s sockeye catch was just over 1-million to push the season total to over 9.8-million. Sunday’s harvest in the Ugashik District was 66-thousand sockeye to push the district total to 76.1-thousand. Fishermen in the Egegik District hauled in over 220-thousand sockeye on Sunday to push the district total up to 2.9-million. The harvest in the Naknek-Kvichak District Sunday was 380-thousand sockeye to push the district total to 3.9-million. Fishermen in the Nushagak District hauled in over 400-thousand sockeye Sunday to push the district total up to 2.9-million. The total harvest in the Togiak District stands at nearly 14-thousand sockeye. Now looking at escapement… 2.6-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement to the Ugashik River Sunday to push the total to 5.3-thousand. However, Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 80-thousand sockeye in the Ugashik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. Sunday’s escapement count to the Egegik River was 82.8-thousand sockeye to push the total up to 693.4-thousand fish. However, Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 100-thousand sockeye in the Egegik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. The lower end of the escapement goal is 800-thousand sockeye. Sunday’s sockeye escapement to the Kvichak River was counted at 236.2-thousand fish to push the season total to 850.8-thousand. Fish and Game estimates that there are another 650-thousand sockeye in the Kvichak River that have not yet been counted as escapement. The escapement count to the Naknek River on Sunday was 220.2-thousand sockeye to push the season total up to 788.3-thousand fish. That’s approaching the lower end of the escapement goal, which is 800-thousand sockeye. The only river that has met its escapement goal in Bristol Bay so far is the Wood River where 196.4-thousand sockeye were counted Sunday to push the total to over 1.55-million. That means that sockeye escapement has exceeded the upper end of the escapement goal and the Wood River is currently over-escaping sockeye. Sunday’s escapement count to the Nushagak River was 30.5-thousand sockeye to push the total to 343.5-thousand. The escapement count to the Igushik River was 27.7-sockeye to push the total to just over 45-thousand fish. The enumeration project on the Togiak River is not yet up and running. The total run to Bristol Bay, including harvest, escapement, and the in-river estimate, is not just over 15-million sockeye. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that on Sunday there were on average 1,179 sockeye per drift delivery in the Ugashik District while the number for the Egegik District was 493. The average delivery number was 604 in the Naknek-Kvichak District and it was 509 in the Togiak District. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that there are 448-driftnet permits being fished in the Egegik District on 364-drift vessel. There are currently 84-D-boats in the District. The permit count in the Naknek-Kvichak District is 580. The vessel count is 486 and there are apparently 94-D-boats fishing in the Naknek-Kvichak District. In the Nushagak District there are 533 driftnet permits being fished on 432 vessels with 101 of those vessels being D-boats. The permit count in the Ugashik District is 22 and the vessel count is 21. That means that there is 1 D-boat fishing in the Ugashik District. Now looking at the current sector splits. In the Ugashik District the split is 62.8-percent drift and 37.2-percent set. The split in the Egegik District is 89.8-percent drift and 10.2-percent set. The split in the Naknek-Kvichak District is 79.4-percent drift, 11.3-percent Naknek set, and 9.4-percent Kvichak set. In the Nushagak District the split is 74-percent drift, 19.9-percent Nushagak set and 5.5-percent Igushik set. You can take a look at the daily run summaries for Bristol Bay on the ADF&G Bristol Bay website.