After a slow start, the Bristol Bay sockeye fishery now appears to be blasting off.
Yesterday, the Fourth of July, marked the third day in a row with a catch of more than 1 million fish.
In fact, the Independence Day haul very nearly reached 2 million, reports the Department of Fish and Game.
For the season, the tally now stands at about 9.4 million fish.
That's still a long way from the preseason forecast of 21.8 million sockeye. But if those nets keep smoking, look out!
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Lucky for Bristol Bay that the reds came and I hope they are still coming in strong. With the King Salmon in drastic delines all over the state, reds, if we could keep them coming, will be the top salmon for awhile. We have to do a better job of protecting them otherwise we'll have to go hatchery all around for every species of the Alaska Wild Salmon!
Sad state of affairs up in the Nome area with the Pilgrim River red run. The numbers are extremely and catastrophically low, like very weak. Subsistence fishers at the Pilgrim River estuary, Grantly Harbor, Teller, Alaska, have only caught a few. Very, very few. They've caught more flounders and bullheads than reds so far.
People are slinging the bull about why they didn't show up. "It's the ice out there in the Bering Sea. It's too cold." If that is indeed what's happening, then why wasn't the sea "too cold" for the humpies and dogs that are showing up in the Norton Sound rivers, I wonder. That's about all we could do right now (wonder) because we're on the "wait and see, it'll be better next summer" management model here - no real studies of the salmon problems known for at least 25 years. It's all documented. Lots of money spent but the salmon are not coming back. Something is wrong with this picture.
Salmon Politics of the Norton Sound. Millions of dollars helping the salmon become extinct. We've been watching it all these years.
Weak salmon runs, once vibrant salmon filled rivers and streams are dead. The rest are getting weaker. Norton Sound summer chum salmon on a "Stock of Concern" list, kings down Unalakleet way are probably endangered now based on the radio announcement numbers I heard as of July 5th.
Lots of money to help but the salmon are still struggling to survive. The poor people are struggling to keep their tradition and culture alive. They are dying right before my eyes. Salmon stocks and Alaska Native culture and it's tradition of living off the salmon. And the people are silent because they are afraid of the bullies.
Lucky for Bristol Bay fishers.
So why doesn't Nome's CDQ group pony up some of its gazillions of dollars and fund some salmon studies for the region? The CDQ money is supposed to be used for things that benefit the region long term. Hmmmmmm????
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