And that is exactly what is being worked on behind the scene at the moment...
Discussion on pink salmon opportunities took place in the last two days. I was asked for input on what opportunities should be available and my recommendation was 2 fish/day throughout September then closed to fishing after Sept 30th, for both the Chilliwack and Harrison River systems. More likely than not you'll see a fishery notice next week for these.
Just a quick follow-up on this. Just waiting for approval for both Harrison and Vedder retention opportunities, fishery notice should be out very soon.
The fish seem to be more bitey this morning from the reports I received.
One quick note that Garry Point Park is in fact closed to salmon fishing during this opening, as it falls in sub-area 29-9 which is closed to salmon fishing. This item is going to be revisited this fall at the SFAC to have the area rezoned as managers now know how important it is to have opportunities available for shore anglers in that area.
I've been going back and forth in communication with various staff at the department to see how it's going. So far all the feedbacks have been positive. Compliance has been good overall, lots of people out fishing on the long weekend and majority of the participants were all very positive despite of the low catches. Resource managers are now seeing the social and economic benefits from this particular fishery and I'm really happy to see all the effort going into making it successful this year. And I've only caught one so far this season lol!
I'm just gonna show you a couple of screenshots which were relayed to the department earlier today. These are just some of the testimonials which were sent to me (there were a lot more in my inbox...) from first time participants of the fishery. This has never been about getting the allocated biomass to harvest, but to have opportunities and create experiences like these. Most people are just happy that they are able to catch one salmon on their own.
12 more days of happiness, get out there and enjoy it.