A record number of sockeye salmon passed through the sonar on the Kasilof River Wednesday.
About 125,628 sockeye were recorded at the sonar there — a new daily record for the run, according to Brian Marston, Alaska Department of Fish and Game's area manager for Upper Cook Inlet commercial fisheries. The surge brings the sockeye run on the Kasilof to 568,703 fish this run.
While the Kenai River didn’t hit a daily record that day, Marston said it was the eighth highest daily count recorded since 1979.
Nearly 189,420 sockeye passed through the sonar at mile 19 of the Kenai Wednesday. Over 519,247 late-run sockeye have been recorded in the river so far this run — bringing the department halfway to its in-river goal for the run of 1.1 to 1.4 million sockeye. The Kenai River run historically peaks in early August.
Colton Lipka is the sportfish area manager for Fish and Game. He said what these large numbers point to is, perhaps, obvious — that there’s a lot of fish.
“There’s a lot that can feed into what would cause that situation, whether you’re dealing with increased production in the environment or if you have some kind of change in your harvest regime, your fishing power — which are all things that can be present in Kenai," Lipka said.
He said the high numbers on the Kasilof are actually a little frustrating for managers since there are fewer access points for anglers there. Unlike the Kenai, which has 20 or so access sites, there’s just one on the Kasilof — the Crooked Creek Recreation Site.
He said that inherently limits how many people can go to the site and how many fish can be harvested.
“When you have that many fish and you don’t have more room to put people on those fish, that can be frustrating from a manager’s point of view, just trying to provide opportunity," he said.
He said most harvest happens from boats on the Kasilof. He said his department is working with Alaska State Parks to ramp up on-foot access to the river.
Meanwhile, Fish and Game is loosening limits on the personal-use and sport fisheries on the Kenai so anglers can get after those large numbers of sockeye. Starting today, anglers on the Kenai can catch six sockeye per day and possess 12.
The dipnet fishery is also now open 24 hours a day, just in time for the peak of the fishery.
On Friday, trucks lined the beach in Kenai with families eager to catch their limits — 25 fish per head of household and 10 for every additional household member.
Mary Krusen grew up not far from the beach in Kenai and lives in Anchorage today. She stood in a wetsuit next to a cooler of 40 or so fish that she caught with her group.
“It’s been great," she said around 2 p.m. "A little slower in the morning but definitely picked up in the afternoon.”
Deborah Hart, of Anchorage, said she chose the right week to come down with her crew of 20.
“We chase fish in the summer," she said, laughing.
On Friday, waves were making the fishing harder on anglers. But she said Thursday, the day after that really high sockeye run, people were pulling in fish.
“That was a good night to get them, because the whole beach was pouring in," Hart said. "The fish were just coming in left and right, the whole beach was pulling them in. We pulled in about 50 fish in two hours. With four nets in the water.”
The sockeye run on the Kenai has surpassed the upper limits of the department’s escapement goals for the previous several seasons.
Last year, over 2.4 million sockeye passed through the sonar,raising concerns among commercial fishermen about over escapement.
Jeff Fox is a retired commercial fisheries biologist for Fish and Game, based in Soldotna
He said the runs in the river are too high.
“When you have these huge escapements, it’s fun this year," Fox said. "But in five years, it won’t be as much fun. That’s the problem.”
That’s because the higher density a fish population gets, the more competition there is for food among rearing fish.
“Everyone understands you can only put so many cows on a pasture," Fox said. "This is the same principle in cold-blooded animals.”
Managers have said overescapment is one potential consequence of the king salmon escapement goals being favored over sockeye salmon goals, per the state’s management plan. They said it could take a few years for the offspring of the overescaped sockeye runs to mature and return to really know how these numbers will impact salmon yields going forward.
Anglers are not allowed to catch king salmon. Fish and Game closed the Kenai and Kasilof to king fishing Saturday. That also triggered the closure of the set-net fishery July 16.
This story was updated Friday.
