Over 20-Million Sockeye Harvested in Bristol Bay

The sockeye harvest in Bristol Bay has topped 20-million as the run has exceeded the pre-season forecast. Sunday’s harvest was 954-thousand sockeye to push the season total to just over 20-million. The District that’s still way out front is the Naknek-Kvichak District. Another 460-thousand sockeye were caught in the District on Sunday to push the season total to over 9.8-million. Next up is the Nushagak District where fishermen hauled in over 241-thousand sockeye on Sunday to push the season total to just over 5-million. Commercial fishermen in the Egegik District hauled in 253-thousand sockeye on Sunday to push the total to over 4.7-million. The total harvest in the Ugashik District is nearly 405-thousand and the total in the Togiak District is nearly 70-thousand. Now looking at the latest escapement numbers. Sunday’s count in the Ugashik River was 41.3-thousand to push the total to over 285.6-thousand. However, Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 70-thousand sockeye in the Ugashik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. The escapement goal for the Ugashik River is between 500-thousand to 1.2-million sockeye. The sockeye count to the Egegik River on Sunday was 56.8-thousand sockeye to push the total to over 1.2-million. That’s over the mid-point for the escapement goal, which allowed the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to waive the 48-hour transfer rule. Another 183.1-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement to the Kvichak River on Sunday. That pushed the total to over 3.6-million sockeye. That means the escapement goal for the Kvichak River has been met. The sockeye escapement to the Naknek River was counted at 75.3-thousand fish on Sunday to push the total to over 1.2-million. Since the escapement goal for the Kvichak River has been met and the mid-point of the goal for the Naknek River has been met the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has waived the 48-hour transfer rule into the Naknek-Kvichak District. Escapement to the Igushik River was counted at just over 10-thousand sockeye on Sunday to push the total to over 138.1-thousand. That’s still short of the escapement goal of 150-thousand to 300-thousand sockeye. Sockeye escapement to the Nushagak River was counted at 19-thousand fish on Sunday to push the total to over 499-thousand. That’s well within the escapement goal of 370-thousand to 840-thousand sockeye. The strong escapement numbers continue to the Wood River where another 70.3-thousand sockeye were counted on Sunday to push the total to nearly 2.3-million. The escapement number for the Togiak River on Sunday was 2.1-thousand to push the total to over 8.1-thousand. The total run to Bristol Bay through Sunday was 29.4-million sockeye. That’s nearly 3-million fish above the pre-season forecast. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that on-average there were 419 sockeye per drift delivery in the Egegik District on Sunday. The average number in the Naknek-Kvichak District was 385 and the number in the Nushagak District was 373. The current driftnet permit count in the Egegik District is 372 on 303 driftnet vessels. There are currently 69-D-boats fishing in the District. The permit count in the Naknek-Kvichak District is 807 on 658 drifnet vessels. Currently there are 150-D-boats fishing in the District. The permit count in the Nushagak District is 363 and the vessel count is 308. In the Ugashik District the driftnet permit count is 111 and the vessel count is 87. The permit and vessel count in the Togiak District is 61. Now looking at the gear splits. In the Ugashik District the split is 71.9-percent drift and 28.1-percent set. In the Egegik District the split is 88-percent drift and 12-percent set. The splits in the Naknek-Kvichak District is 83.1-percent drift, 9.7-percent Naknek set and 7.3-percent Kvichak set. In the Nushagak District the split is 75.3-percent drift, 5.8-percent Igushik set and 16-percent Nushagak set. You can find the details about the harvest and escapement in Bristol Bay on the ADF&G Bristol Bay website.