A record run of Sockeye have swarmed the Copper River on their way to spawning grounds upstream.

In what is being called the largest escapement into the Copper River in well over 30 years by biologists, almost a half a million sockeye have tranversed the counting station at the “Million Dollar Bridge” outside of Cordova since counting began on May 16th.

This year’s count has surpassed the previous record count in 1997 that topped 360,000 fish.

Although the numbers are now decreasing, the escapement continues to be very strong, bringing the largest numbers of fish to the Copper River in well over 30 years, meaning fantastic dip-netting and subsistence opportunities along the river banks this year.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has announced that the allowable catch for dip-netters this year will increase by an extra 10 fish during the first opening scheduled for June 6-10. They have also said that additional increases in catch limits are likely given the high rates of escapement.

The record high escapement comes after a better than expected Sockeye fishery during the cCommercial season near the mouth of the river this season.

Along with high numbers of Sockeye this year, observers are saying that those Sockeye are some of the largest seen in the river with some weighing in at 15-20 pounds.

The numbers do not look so well for the King Salmon run on the river, numbers are way low this year and it is not likely those numbers will improve as the season progresses.