Now well past the mid-June mark, Southwest salmon fisheries have begun to ramp up. Still a few weeks out from peak fishing, set and subsistence nets have begun to pull in steady pounds from early-run fish, as have commercial crews in various fisheries along the Alaska Peninsula and in Bristol Bay.
Chinook numbers have been closely watched in river and stream habitats across the state, and that includes Bristol Bay's Nushagak District. As of Monday 8,355 kings had made their way toward their Nushagak home — or 8.7 percent of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's escapement goal for that salmon species.
The run is actually one of the healthiest king populations in the state. Strong enough, in fact, to warrant a commercial opener. The Nushagak opened for commercial kings last week for a five-hour stretch.
"The harvest was approximately 500 kings and effort was 8 boats," said Dillingham Area Management Biologist Tim Sands with ADF&G. "So a good harvest for low effort." That effort might be a one-shot deal in the Nushagak this season.
"We don't have plans for additional openings at this time," Sands said. "It is all dependent on escapement, which is lagging at this time."
Bristol Bay openers
A test fishery showed an increase in fish headed up the Egegik River, though weekend numbers were still low. The counting tower came online Tuesday at midnight. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game opened Egegik waters for set gillnet gear for an eight-hour period earlier in the week, and a four-hour period for drifters. Ugashik fishermen got a similar opener.
In the Nushagak, ADF&G opened up the Igushik section for setnetters every day this week. But sockeye season is not yet rearing its true head in the Bay.
"Things are slow right now — we are in the doldrums," Sands said. "We need some wind to move the fish."
Test fisheries are showing some fish moving toward the region, but it's too early to make significant evaluations about the coming escapement.
"At least for the Nushagak we don't have any significant indications of run timing or size," Sands said. "Port Moller data is interesting but I can't say that it means anything at this point for us."
In Togiak, commercial fishing closed yesterday at noon, and subsistence fishing reopened in the river at the same time, continuing until Sunday at noon. Those wishing to drift gillnet in the Togiak salmon fishery are reminded that their Blue Cards must be filled out and filed prior to putting a net out in Togiak District waters.
Area M openers and harvest
In Chignik, an early-week opener gave crews 48 hours of fishing time. As of Monday's harvest data, 690,351 sockeye had been taken from the Chignik Management Area. Chignik chums totaled 32,440.
Farther down the Alaska Peninsula, the Area M sockeye take was closing in on the million-fish mark as of Monday's release. A total of 903,203 reds had been harvested, with chums in a far second at 195,130 fish. Total salmon catches for Area M topped 1.1 million after Monday.
The Port Moller and Bear River sections of Area M closed Monday, and will remain closed until further notice. Sand Point fishing waters were open most of the week, and close noon today. However those areas are open only to set netters prior to July 11.
This story first appeared in The Bristol Bay Times/Dutch Harbor Fisherman and is republished here with permission. Hannah Heimbuch can be reached at hheimbuch(at)reportalaska.com