As the season comes to an end, data from this year’s sockeye salmon harvest in the Bristol Bay region show record lows. According to Undercurrent News reporting data from the McKinley Research Group (MRG), harvests in the area have surpassed the preseason forecast. Still, the average size of the sockeye salmon being landed has been the lowest on record.
On July 23, Bristol Bay commercial fishermen had harvested almost 30.2 million sockeyes, and the 2024 preseason harvest was forecasted at roughly 26 million fish. MRG reported that the peak of the sockeye run had already come and gone in the Bay region, where most of this Alaska species is harvested.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) told Undercurrent in an email “that with daily catch numbers on the decline, fishing is starting to wrap up altogether. Many harvesters have pulled their boats out of the water for the season, which began in earnest at the beginning of July.”
According to ADF&G in-season management data, 384,284 fish were caught on July 22. This number has declined since July 4, when fishermen hauled around 2 million fish daily. In addition to harvest data, ADF&G told sources, "The average size of all four major age classes of sockeye are the lowest we have ever seen.” The average weight was 4.2 lbs. for the Bay region due to the significant return of sockeye with two years of ocean growth.
Additional data shared by the McKinley Research Group via the University of Washington’s Fisheries Research Institute showed lower numbers of sockeye with three years of ocean growth returning to Bristol Bay, weighing around 5.5 lbs.
Some hurdles have set commercial fishermen and processors back, such as the fire on Northline Seafoods' new freezer barge, the Hannah. After the incident, the all-in-one solution barge was still buying harvests from commercial fishermen but not at full capacity during the peak of the season. After about a week, Northline engineers got all the freezers within the vessel up and running again.
Citations were also surging during the season's peak, with State Troopers reporting 21 fishing violations around Bristol Bay. Most were written to fishermen harvesting in closed waters or during closed periods. Alaska Troopers patrol sent reminders for fishermen to pay attention to openers and closers and to pay close attention to the GPS to avoid closed areas.
MRG reported a decline in harvests over the past few weeks, concluding that the season’s peak is behind us. The harvest is behind last year’s in every region except for Prince Wiliam Sound, where sockeye fishermen hauled more than 3 million fish.
Fishermen have harvested 92% of the projected sockeye harvested forecast for the 2024 season and have landed just over a third of the year’s anticipated harvest across all species. MRG data showed that 49.2 million fish have been caught thus far, of a projected 135.6 million.
