Tag: bristolbay

Bristol Bay 2025 Advisory Forecast Projects a 49.6M Salmon Run
28Aug By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Bristol Bay 2025 Advisory Forecast Projects a 49.6M Salmon Run

A preliminary preseason forecast for the 2025 Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery projects a run of 49.6 million fish returning to the bay, with a projected harvest of 32.4 million reds, based on data from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The forecast from fisheries biologists with the University of Washington School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, released on Aug. 15, came prior to finalized in-season data for the 2024 run and the formal run reconstruction process. Study authors said it should be considered strictly advisory rather than a formal forecast, given its lower accuracy and aggregated summary across stocks. The very early forecast was prompted by the Bristol Bay fisheries community expressing interest in a preliminary p...
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Nushagak District Leads Bristol Bay Harvest, Where Overall Catch Reaches Nearly 25M Fish
17Jul By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Nushagak District Leads Bristol Bay Harvest, Where Overall Catch Reaches Nearly 25M Fish

Commercial harvesters in Bristol Bay's Nushagak District have brought in nearly 11 million salmon to date in the 2024 fishery, and with the other bay districts have delivered a total of more than 24 million pounds of salmon to processors. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game notes that the statewide catch estimate for the commercial salmon fishery reached 38.2 million pounds as of July 1, up from 25 million salmon on July 9. It's been a tough season for commercial fishermen in the Naknek-Kvichak district, however. ADF&G biologist Travis Elison, in Dillingham, says the anticipated run forecast of 5.5 million salmon is likely to end up being below two million fish, and what happened to the rest of the forecasted run is unknown. Elison said the last time the Naknek-Kvichak ...
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Northline Seafoods Barge Heads for Bristol Bay
5Jun By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Northline Seafoods Barge Heads for Bristol Bay

Northline Seafoods’ new vertically integrated barge, equipped to buy, freeze, ship, store and distribute wild Alaska salmon, is expected to make its debut this summer in the Bristol Bay wild salmon fishery, with a capacity to hold more than 10 million pounds of fresh fish. The barge would be located at Clarks Point in the Nushagak district to buy fish from all Bristol Bay fishing districts. The Hannah’s departure on May 25 from Fairhaven Shipyard in Bellingham, Wash. marks the completion of a more than three-year project, including 15 months of construction. Seeing the Hannah depart for the Bristol Bay fishery “is a dream come true,” Northline Seafoods CEO Ben Blakey said in a May 28 statement, confirming the maiden voyage of the barge. Blakey said that the successful compl...
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Pebble, State of Alaska, Back in Court Regarding Mine Defense
20Mar By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Pebble, State of Alaska, Back in Court Regarding Mine Defense

A Canadian mining company intent on building a copper, gold and molybdenum mine abutting the Bristol Bay watershed has renewed litigation, seeking to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency veto of permits for the Pebble Mine. The lawsuit filed in federal district court in Alaska on Friday, March 15, came on the heels of the state of Alaska’s lawsuit filed March 14 in the U.S. federal claims court asking for more than $700 billion in damages for state lands that Alaska contends were confiscated. Ron Thiessen, president and CEO of Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. (NDM) in Vancouver, British Columbia, said his company’s priority is to advance the district federal court complaint because overturning the illegal veto removes a major impediment from getting the permit to build the ...
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Bristol Bay Red King Crab Fishery Scheduled to Open Oct. 15
11Oct By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Bristol Bay Red King Crab Fishery Scheduled to Open Oct. 15

Alaska’s Bristol Bay red king crab fishery is set to open at noon on Oct. 15 after being closed for two years due to stocks not meeting minimal levels for fishing. The set quota is 2.15 million pounds, just slightly lower than the 2020 opener of 2.6 million pounds. The announcement from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) was cheered by long time drabber captains like Glenn Casto of the f/v Pinnacle, who called it a start in the right direction that would help pay bills and help out crew. Veteran crab captains Oystein Lone, and Gabriel Prout also praised the decision to let them fish. “It’s a needed lifeline for us to keep our businesses afloat,” said Lone, captain and owner of the f/v Confidence and f/v Pacific Mariner. “The impacts the fleet and the stock cont...
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2023 Runs to All Bristol Bay Districts Exceed Forecasts
27Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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2023 Runs to All Bristol Bay Districts Exceed Forecasts

Preliminary data compiled by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game show that the run of sockeye salmon run to Bristol Bay in 2023 was 54.5 million fish, with runs to every district within this easternmost arm of the Bering Sea exceeding preseason forecasts. Data show that the run itself was the eighth largest inshore run since 2003 and 17% above the 46.7 million average run for the latest 20-year period, stretching from 2003 to 2022. All sockeye salmon escapement goals were met or exceeded, with a total bay-wide escapement of 13.9 million fish, according to the preliminary document issued on Sept. 22. The ex-vessel value of salmon harvested in Bristol Bay in 2023, calculated by using the fish ticket weight and price paid for each species, totaled $117.4 million for all salmon...
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Bristol Bay Setnetters Begin Vote on Whether to Join BBRSDA
13Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Bristol Bay Setnetters Begin Vote on Whether to Join BBRSDA

Efforts to bring Bristol Bay setnetters into the ranks of the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association (BBRSDA) are underway. The BBRSDA is conducting an election of Bristol Bay salmon set gillnet permit holders to approve a self-imposed 1% seafood development tax of all interim-use and limited entry Bristol Bay set gillnet permit holders within Bristol Bay. The assessment would be effective on June 1, 2024. Each eligible voter may cast one ballot. All ballots must be mailed to the Alaska Division of Investments and postmarked by Oct. 9. The election closes on Oct 19. All votes are to be counted and certified by the Alaska Commissioner of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. Complete details and voting instructions are available on the BBRSDA website. ...
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UW-FRI Preliminary Forecast Predicts 2024 Run of 38.9 M Bristol Bay Sockeyes
6Sep By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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UW-FRI Preliminary Forecast Predicts 2024 Run of 38.9 M Bristol Bay Sockeyes

The University of Washington’s Fisheries Research Institute (UW-FRI) on Aug. 18 issued a preliminary preseason 2024 forecast run of 38.9 million Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, with a harvest of 26.4 million fish. The forecasted run would be 32% below the 2013-2022 10-year average, with the fish weighing an average of 5.5 pounds, according to the forecast. The UW-FRI report is based on 2023 daily in-season data from Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports. The preliminary preseason forecast suggests that 63% of the total 2024 Bristol Bay run will be 2-ocean sockeye and 37% 3-ocean sockeye. The standard UW-FRI Preseason Forecast, slated for release in November, is to include abundance estimates by age class for all nine rivers in Bristol Bay, plus anticipated 2024 harvest in num...
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Pebble Permit Legal Battle Rises to U.S. Supreme Court
9Aug By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Pebble Permit Legal Battle Rises to U.S. Supreme Court

State of Alaska officials are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) veto of a Clean Water Act permit needed for construction of the Pebble copper, gold and molybdenum mine on property abutting the Bristol Bay sockeye salmon fishery. The “bill of complaint” filed by the state on July 26 argues that the EPA’s decision violates the state’s right to develop its natural resources for the maximum benefit of its people. “Bureaucrats in Washington D.C. are exercising unbridled and unlawful power to choke off any further discussion on this important decision affecting so many Alaskans,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said.  “It’s an indefensible and unprecedented power grab that the U.S. Supreme Court should find unlawful,” Alaska Attorney General Treg ...
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Bristol Bay Fishermen, Processors Clash Over 50 Cents Per Pound Base Price
26Jul By Fishermen's NewsNo Comments
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Bristol Bay Fishermen, Processors Clash Over 50 Cents Per Pound Base Price

Harvesters and processors in Alaska’s Bristol Bay commercial salmon fishery are at odds over the 50 cents per pound that processors are offering for the robust catch, a price harvesters say will leave them with little, if any, income after expenses are paid. Processors have cited not only their increased cost of doing business, but the large amount of the 2022 catch still unsold after last year’s record Bristol Bay harvest. Veteran Bristol Bay fisherman Robert Cheyne Blough organized a protest at Naknek on July 20. He said that more than 100 fishing boats that were tied together paraded back and forth from of the dock at Naknek for about 12 hours, but did not interfere with deliveries to processors there. What if any impact their protest had on the price of fish is still uncer...
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