SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — June 25, 2014 — Fishing is slow in Bristol Bay as most wait for the fish to show up, and the University of Washington Fisheries Research Institute has revised downward their forecast for this year's Bristol Bay run by about one million fish.
UW's fisheries research center has done their own Bristol Bay analysis since the 1960's and they also do their own interpretation of the Port Moller test fishery.
Their original preseason forecast was for a total run of 29.4 million fish, but in an inseason release issued on Sunday, they revised that downward to 28.3 million fish, based on weak catches in the south Peninsula fishery in June, and the fact that the Port Moeller cumulative index is well below its average going back to 1990.
After spiking on Sunday, the Port Moller catch rates fell on Monday, but recovered again on Tuesday and Wednesday. The project managers say this day to day fluctuation is to be expected. The raw totals for Tuesday and Wednesday were higher than Monday, and will likely represent the biggest catches so far this season. The analysis from Port Moller is that the run is continuing to build and shows a normal pattern, and will likely peak in the next couple of days. It takes an average of around 6 days for the fish to travel from Port Moller to Bristol Bay.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.