Cool, rainy weather notwithstanding, it was a very good week for Bristol Bay, where the harvest grew to some 17.3 million wild Alaska salmon by 9 July.
Preliminary harvest figures showed the daily catch for 9 July alone at 1,161,000 salmon of all species. The number of sockeye salmon alone per drift gillnet delivery for that day stood at 677 reds for the Naknek-Kvichak, 430 for Egegik, 204 for the Nushagak and 198 for Togiak. The count for the Ugashik was unavailable.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists had forecast a harvest of 8.9 million sockeye for the Naknek/Kvichak, but by 9 July the commercial fleet had already landed more than 9.1 million fish, biologists said. Other districts of Bristol Bay still appeared to be within the range of the forecasted harvest.
Bristol Bay veteran Shawn Dochtermann, aboard the F/V Isanotski in the Naknek-Kvichak district, said the weather had been really cold in the morning, then a mix of sunshine, rain and high overcast, “but I’ve seen a lot worse.”
