The sockeye runs to the Chignik River are at their highest for this time of year since 2015. This is welcome news after four years of extremely low returns. Chignik officials think that might have something to do with recent management changes to Area M’s commercial fishery, but biologists and Area M fishers are skeptical.
Chignik sockeye runs meet escapement goals for the first time since 2018 crash alaskapublic.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from alaskapublic.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Nushagak River is now more than double its upper escapement goal. Both the Nushagak and Egegik’s fleets hauled in huge harvest numbers – Egegik’s fleet caught over 900,000 sockeye on Monday. Ugashik more than doubled their harvest so far, and had some hefty drift deliveries.