Geographically, Bristol Bay and the Bering Sea are synonymous. Generally, the "Bay" is more used as describing perhaps a distance 50-100 nautical miles seaward from the coast of Southwest Alaska. But the names are used interchangeably. The Bay is north of the Aleutian Chain/Alaska Peninsula and juts itself into the cranny where the coast turns north-northwestward as the arm of the Chain meets mainland Alaska. The Bay is fed by five major river systems: the Naknek, Kvichak, Egegik, Nushagak, and Ugashik. These rivers are fed by countless tributaries which also support the fishery as a whole, and, in the end, are headed by the countless lakes that make pockmarks in the Alaskan tundra. Two major lakes which feed the Naknek and Kvichak systems are Naknek Lake and Lake Iliamna, the latter being the largest freshwater lake in Alaska and the eighth largest in the United States.
There are a couple of things that make Bristol Bay unique in terms of how Mother Nature behaves. Tidal changes range anywhere from eighteen feet to thirty-two feet between high and low water. (Compare this to Puget Sound--maybe a ten foot change at the most.) Current velocities can push six to eight knots in the peak of an ebb or flood. At low water, the Naknek River goes dry except for one "hole" on the south side of the river which serves as an anchorage for gillnetters and tenders. Sandbars also show out in the Bay at low water. If you are tied to the dock or anchored in the wrong spot, you WILL go dry at low water, 32-foot gillnetter and 130-foot crabber/tender alike. Sometimes this is necessary and part of the day; other times...it just isn't. This fishery takes place in anywhere from sixty feet of water out west to three feet of water, right on the beach. It's a fast and furious multi-faceted environment with respect to what a skipper and crew work with/against as they are in the process of harvesting sockeye salmon.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game took ownership to the management of this fishery in 1960. Since then, we have seen a sustainable, impeccably-regulated, and completely wild stock of king, sockeye, and silver salmon (among other species, these being the major) return to the Bristol Bay drainage year after year. Fisheries biologists monitor the escapement of fish into the river systems for healthy numbers to ensure future runs. Through observations from actual towers placed on all of the rivers, hourly and daily numbers of escaped fish are compiled and then reported. At this point, it is determined whether enough fish have escaped based on a historical curve to allow commercial fishing in the district. If daily escapement is behind the curve by too large a factor, we stand down and continue waiting for healthy numbers. Harvest is also reported by the canneries and tracked. Escapement, harvest, total run, and the makeup and age of fish are all closely recorded for historical purposes, but most importantly to gauge, forecast, and allot future harvests and escapements. Ultimately, this year's newborn fry will return as future adult salmon to be harvested or to spawn. Since regulation by the ADF&G began in 1960, the fishery has only stayed shut down one season for lack of returns. (I need to check facts on this. I can't remember the year.)
Our 32-foot gillnetter, the Odie, goes fishing as soon as the ADF&G announces an opening on the VHF radio or the Bay's AM station, KDLG. The above link is a verbatim copy of what is read over the airwaves. I don't know about you, but hearing these crackling announcements come over the radio gives me goosebumps, especially early on in the season. With large tide fluctuations and going dry at low water, it is often necessary to go out, anchor up, and wait for an announcement if it looks like a possible opening will begin when the river is dry or too shallow to leave.
We fish using a gillnet which is unreeled and set in the water from a giant hydraulic drum or reel in the stern of the boat. When completely set, the net stretches out behind the boat at a length of 150 fathoms. (One fathom = six feet.) It extends down 29 meshes deep, and each mesh is roughly 5 inches across. The net itself, or web, is attached to a leadline on the bottom for weight and a corkline on the top which floats on the surface of the water. When it's time to "pick", or haul the net, Dad and I stand in the stern of the Odie operating hydraulics and picking each fish out of the net simultaneously.
As we're picking, we are placing the fish in one of six holds aboard the Odie, each with at best a 3000-pound capacity. Inside the holds are brailers, or giant bags, which are used as vehicles to contain the fish on our boat and hoist the fish out of the holds when delivering to a tender. Once we're full or the fishing period is over, we'll run and tie up to a tender which lifts the brailers out of our holds and empties our fish into their giant, refrigerated holds. Once at capacity, (some bigger tenders which are king crabbers by fall and winter can hold up to half a million pounds) the tender will go to the cannery and deliver the fish for processing and shipment to the market.
After a fishing period which can last anywhere from four hours to days at a time, Dad and I will anchor up and get some sleep and eat; or, if the tide allows us to get to the cannery and we have time, we'll head in and grab a shower and make a phone call home. Every season is so different in this regard. Last season we spent 21 consecutive days aboard, catching naps and a shower whenever we could. Other seasons we're in the bunkhouse at the cannery, sitting...waiting for those crackling announcements.
Some key facts to leave you with:
- We are drift gillnet fishermen, not set gillnet fishermen
- We fish the Naknek/Kvichak section of Bristol Bay and rarely travel to other districts, such as the Nushagak or Egegik districts.
- The company we fish for/the cannery we live at when not aboard is Alaska General Seafoods.
- The cannery processes canned salmon and frozen fillets for shipment to the world market
- The total sockeye run prediction for 2010 is 39.77 million fish. The projected harvest is 31.76 million, with an escapement of a little over 8 million fish.
Long post, but thank you for attending Bristol Bay 101.
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