The Alaska Beat: Record setting sockeye forecast again for Bristol Bay

second year in a row. (D. CLARK/NATIONAL PARK SERVICE)

ALASKA BEAT

HERE COME THE SOCKEYE!

After 2021’s record-setting return of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon – a total of 63.1 million fish shattered a decades-old mark – expect more of the same as an even more impressive number of reds is predicted back in 2022.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecast a massive 75 million sockeye to return this year. In total, ADFG projected a total run of 75.27 million fish, which includes an escapement of 13.46 million and a harvestable surplus of 61.82 million.

“This is 44 percent larger than the most recent 10-year average of Bristol Bay total runs (52.09 million) and 111 percent greater than the long-term (1963–2021) average of 35.73 million fish,” ADFG’s report read.

“All systems are expected to meet their spawning escapement goals. The forecast range is the upper and lower values of the 80-percent confidence interval for the total run forecast.”

And you wonder why this region has fought so hard to keep the Pebble Mine out of this salmon-rich ecosystem!

BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CARIBOU?

Contrast the enthusiasm for the increasing number of salmon coming back to Bristol Bay with concerns about declining numbers of caribou in Alaska, including in the same vicinity where Bristol Bay sockeye are thriving.

The Mulchatna Herd, which roams land in and around Bristol Bay and other regions of Southwest Alaska, numbered around 200,000 caribou as recently as the early 1990s. But a 2019 survey totaled just about 13,000. And according to reports, the herd is hovering around 12,800 these days. Subsistence hunters objected to the closure of all Mulchatna hunts for 2022, something that hasn’t happened in years.

Kenton Moos, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Mulchatna Herd biologist, told KYUK Public Media that it’s not clear what the main reason for such a steep decrease in the caribou population is. But whatever the main culprit, the frustration level is high.

TWEET OF THE MONTH

“my daddio doesn’t have social media but I feel the need to share these because he’s finally getting to mark duck hunting in Alaska off his bucket list. He works in healthcare, the past 2 years have been rough. The pure joy on his face makes me so happy.” -@amp0219 on Dec. 6

NOTABLE NUMBER 233.8

MILLION

The number of salmon harvested by commercial fishermen in Alaska waters in 2021, per the state Department of Fish and Game

“THEY SAID IT “We thank Alaska’s Congressional Delegation for hosting this roundtable and are hopeful they will be champions for the core things Alaska’s wild salmon need, including more inclusive and compreAnchorage’s Matt Car- hensive state and federal le, who retired in 2016 after playing 730 National fishery management, reHockey League games, is a passionate angler and gets duction of salmon bycatch back to Alaska every year to get in some of the state’s in the trawl fishery, propremier salmon fishing. (MATT CARLE) tection of salmon strongholds like Bristol Bay, the FROM THE ASJ ARCHIVES – JANUARY 2015 Tongass, and Southeast ANCHORAGE NATIVE AND FORMER Alaska’s transboundary rivers, and investment NHL STAR MATT CARLE ON FISHING in salmon habitat restoAND HOCKEY BACKGROUND ration and climate resiliency. We’re at a point Playing through pain. It’s the battle cry of hockey players. Get cross-checked into the glass? Shake it off. Take a puck off the kisser and lose a few teeth? Go see the dentist between periods and get back on the ice. When Matt where inaction will lead to the complete loss of these

Carle was 5 years old, he almost knew what his destiny was when he fished with his family on the Little Susitna River west of Anchorage. ”wild salmon runs and the

“We’d go over to the Little Su all the time. My dad had, and I’m not sure what cultures and economies year the boat was, a C-Dory. There was a cabin with a door that would go out toward the back of the boat where we’d do all the fishing, obviously,” Carle says. that they have supported “We had a fish on and everyone was racing around the boat to try and get to for generations.” the pole. And when I jumped up from inside the cabin (to run out) my thumb got stuck in the door jamb. I smashed my thumb, and I’m sitting there crying my eyes out but still trying to reel in that fish. I ended up landing the fish, and a –SalmonState Executive couple days later my fingernail ended up falling off. So I considered myself being pretty tough for going through such a dramatic experience. So I started pretty Director Tim Bristol on a young dealing with pain.” December meeting to disBut that’s what made growing up in Alaska so much fun for Carle: the winters made it a natural environment to play hockey, and the summers provided enough cuss the Yukon, Kuskokwim, daylight and surrounding water to grab the fishing gear and drop a line. … Unalakleet, and Chignik The Carle family, uncle and cousins alike, spent plenty of time traveling the Cook Inlet out of Anchorage to the Little Su. They also bought a cabin on Nancy River watersheds. Lake, 90 minutes north of Anchorage. That became a summer fishing and jet ski retreat – “I’m still shocked I would swim in water that cold,” Matt jokes – but also the occasional winter playground where snowmachines were ridden around the frozen ground when Matt and his brothers had no hockey commitments. -Chris Cocoles