The Sockeye Run to Bristol Bay has Exceeded 30-Million

Commercial fishermen continue to harvest huge amounts of sockeye as the total run to Bristol Bay has exceeded 30-million. Monday’s sockeye harvest was just over 1-million sockeye. That pushes the season total to over 21.1-million. The district that is way out front in regards to harvest is the Naknek-Kvichak District where fishermen hauled in another 492-thousand sockeye Monday to push the total to over 10.3-million. Next up is the Nushagak District where fishermen hauled in over 173-thousand sockeye Monday to push the total to nearly 5.2-million. The harvest in the Egegik District Monday was 266-thousand sockeye, which pushed the season total to just over 5-million. The harvest in the Ugashik District was 102-thousand sockeye to push the total to nearly 507-thousand fish. Fishermen in the Togiak District hauled in 19-thousand sockeye Monday to push the total up to 88.9-thousand. Now looking at escapement. 34.5-thousand sockeye were counted in the Ugashik River on Monday to push the total up to 320.1-thousand. However, Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 100-thousand sockeye in the Ugashik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. The sockeye escapement to the Egegik River was 15-thousand to push the total up to 1.2-million. However, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is estimating that there are another 25-thousand sockeye in the Egegik River that have not yet been counted as escapement. The Kvichak River is continuing to see strong escapement numbers. Another 175.4-thousand sockeye were counted Monday to push the total to over 3.8-million. The escapement to the Naknek River was counted at 23.4-thousand sockeye on Monday to push the total to over 1.2-million. Sockeye escapement to the Igushik River was counted at 10.3-thousand on Monday to push the total up to 155.5-thousand. Another 12.9-thousand sockeye were counted as escapement to the Nushagak River Monday to push the total up to 512-thousand. Wood River sockeye escapement was counted at 37.7-thousand on Monday to push the total up to 2.3-million. Just 924-sockeye were counted to the Togiak River on Monday to push the total to just over 9-thousand. The total sockeye run to Bristol Bay through Monday was over 30.8-million sockeye. That includes harvest, escapement and the in-river estimates. Fish and Game confirms that the average sockeye per drift delivery number in the Ugashik District on Monday was 1,135. The number in the Egegik District was 541 and it was 405 in the Naknek-Kvichak District. The average delivery number in the Nushagak District was 327 and it was 189 in the Togiak District. The current driftnet vessel count in the Egegik District is 319 on 263 vessels with a D-boat count of 56. In the Naknek-Kvichak District there are 852 drift permits working on 689 vessels with a D-boat count of 164. The permit count in the Nushagak District was 357 on 304 vessels with a D-boat count of 53. In the Ugashik District the permit count is 113 and the vessel count is 88 with a D-boat count of 25. The permit and vessel count in the Togiak District is 63. Now looking at the gear splits. In the Ugashik District the split is 77.1-percent drift and 22.9-percent set. The split in the Egegik District is 88.3-percent drift and 11.7-percent set. In the Naknek-Kvichak District the split is 83.1-percent drift, 9.6-percent Naknek set, and Kvichak 7.3-percent set. In the Nushagak District the split is 75.1-percent drift, 15.9-percent Nushagak set and 6-percent Igushik set. Once again the total sockeye harvest in Bristol Bay has exceeded 21.1-million and the total run to Bristol Bay is 30.8-million.