While subsistence salmon fishing, community members from Port Heiden found a skate in the net, which is unusual for them.

Along with significant seabird die-offs near Port Heiden, there have been reports of small whales and porpoises, walrus and sea otters washed up on shore.

Juveniles and sub adults live and migrate in open water at shallow to moderate depths. They move to the bottom as adults when they settle around sea mounts in the North Pacific.

It is unusual to find a dead shark. And it occurred at a time when there were many other standings of marine mammals and birds.

Historically, pollock are not a commonly observed species in Bristol Bay, but sightings are becoming more common.

Billie Shraffenberger is a longtime resident of Port Heiden. This is the first time she has caught a fish like the one she found in her subsistence salmon net this summer.

As of Friday afternoon, the sockeye escapement in the Chignik salmon fishery was less than half of what it usually is this time of the year.

There is really only one thing to talk about in Chignik Bay these days: Where are the sockeye?

Walrus in Bristol Bay and Port Heiden are not uncommon in summer. The fact they are present in April is unusual and residents believe factors such as the lack of sea ice, lack of food and warming ocean temperatures may be the reason.

Mushy meat texture, and rotten smell found in sockeye salmon and pacific halibut.