When this fishery opportunity was being proposed in 2012, my colleagues and I were quite involved in the discussion. The two methodologies proposed were seining in the lower river downstream from the railway bridge, and dip netting in the upper river. All of us were in favour of these as they would have very little impact on not just the sockeye salmon being targeted but also the chinook salmon mixed in between which the recreational anglers target, and minimize conflicts between user groups. While catch success for them was very low during that year, it was good to see new fishing opportunities being proposed for them and backed up by the rec group while opportunities in the Fraser River were not available.
Personally I'm not aware of any discussion this year to have drift gill nets added to these methodologies for this fishery, so I'm a bit surprised to see this. It's a six day opening and the practice is being allowed day and night in the section of the river downstream from the railway bridge in Yarrow. There's nothing wrong with the opportunities given considering how many sockeye salmon we are seeing coming into the river this year, but the methodology needs to be reviewed I think.
I'm pretty sure all chinook salmon being intercepted have to be released, but one has to wonder how it affects the chinook salmon fishing further upstream in the coming days when there are nets being strung across the canal. The good news is that we are at the tail end of the chinook salmon fishery I guess. I've addressed the above concerns to those who are responsible for this and will post follow-ups when/if they become available.