Fraser sockeye fishery threatened
Drastically low fish numbers may mean closure of run for second year
Carla Wilson
Canwest News Service
Saturday, April 12, 2008
VICTORIA - Commercial and recreational fishermen may be shut out of this year's Fraser River sockeye salmon run because projections point to plummeting numbers.
Well-below-average numbers are predicted for sockeye salmon returning to the Fraser River, Jeff Grout, Fisheries and Oceans Canada's region resource manager for salmon, said Friday.
Grout is expecting 1.9 million to 2.9 million sockeye to return to spawn, considerably lower than the historical average of 4.4 million for the low year in the sockeye run's four-year cycle.
"There is certainly the possibility there won't be an opportunity there for a sockeye fishery for the commercial and recreational harvesters," he said.
Low numbers last year also prompted fisheries officials to prohibit commercial and recreational fishing for Fraser sockeye.
Concerns over these salmon come as a total closure of commercial and sport chinook salmon fisheries off California and most of Oregon was announced Thursday by the Seattle-based Pacific Fishery Management Council.
"This is a disaster for West Coast salmon fisheries, under any standard," council chairman Don Hansen said.
The decision follows what the council called an "unprecedented collapse" of Sacramento River fall chinook and the poor state of coho salmon from Oregon and Washington State.
In B.C., fisheries managers will be monitoring the Fraser River run through test fisheries, which provide ongoing information on numbers of returning salmon. The first Fraser sockeye usually show up by late June or early July, peaking in early August, Grout said.
The Fisheries Department is expecting returns will be adequate to sustain the population, he said. The department anticipates there will be an opportunity for first nations to harvest Fraser sockeye for food, social and ceremonial purposes, he added.
Commercial fishermen typically catch Fraser sockeye as they head home through Johnstone Strait and in the river itself.
Irvin Figg, president of the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union-CAW, said he was prepared for the possibility of a closure, and that even when it is open, there's little money to be made in the low year of the sockeyes' four-cycle.
"We expected this to be a poor yea," he said.
Marilyn Murphy, executive director of the Sport Fishing Institute of B.C., said, "I'm on the edge of my seat," waiting for word on Fraser sockeye.
In recent years, it has become more difficult to predict numbers of returning salmon and ocean survival has changed, Murphy said.
The more southern the distribution of salmon, the more challenges they have, Murphy said, adding that salmon stocks returning to northern waters are generally in better shape.
However, while there are areas of concern for this year's returns of salmon along B.C.'s coast, she was optimistic that recreational fishermen will have some good opportunities this year, especially near hatcheries.
Craig Orr, executive director of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, said the reasons for the low Fraser sockeye returns are not clear and urged B.C. to protect groundwater around salmon rivers and streams.
Forecasts are often higher than the actual returns, he said from Terrace.
"We could be looking at extremely low numbers. ... It is not a bright day for B.C."
First nations members are concerned about whether there will be enough salmon for their uses, Orr said.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
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