Buskin Busts Through Lower End of Escapement Goal

Jay Barrett/KMXT
Another 40,000 sockeye salmon were harvested in the Kodiak Management Area yesterday (Wednesday), and the very first coho of the season was reported caught as well.
The total through June 12th is now 244,439 sockeye caught, with just more than half – 124,633 – in the Karluk, Northwest Kodiak and Southwest Afognak area. Over 93,000 have been hauled in from Cape Igvak and Wide Bay.
Fishermen in Olga, Moser and Alitak bays have caught 13,440 sockeye.
A total of 11,000 chum salmon have been caught, along with 2,100 kings, 637 humpies and the aforementioned single silver.
The all-species area-wide catch through Wednesday is 258,272.

Karluk sockeye escapement continues to perform well, moving ahead of the 2005 number through June 12th. Almost 139,000 sockeye have passed the weir so far.
Over 9,000 reds went through the weir at the Ayakulik River yesterday alone, bringing the season escapement total to over 51,000, which is well ahead of all but one of the last seven years.
Dog Salmon Creek had a surge of 2,100 go by yesterday, upping its total of sockeye to nearly 27,000, well ahead of the 10 year average.
The Buskin River has now passed the lower end of the sockeye escapement goal, with another 589 reds making it by the weir. The total now stands at 5,379 fish – more than double last year’s count at this time.