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[Eagleye]

any thoughts? Due to their small size I'm thinking fish farms could be the culprits

[~IvAn~]

commercial fishermen

[stryker 07]

 
how could it ,they didnt have an opening for them as far as i know?

[Fish Assassin]

What does fish farms have to do with it ?

[Eagleye]

 
how could it ,they didnt have an opening for them as far as i know?

I second that.  I was unable to get them from any fish market or their suppliers.  But I did manage to get what Dave at Highwater had left from the year before and he even gave me a deal on them!

What does fish farms have to do with it ?

My statement was just some food for thought. I don't know if eulachons travel by the farms but I was thinking the sea lice may have killed them off.  Since they are so small I'm assuming sea lice would have a very negative impact on them.  But this is pure speculation. Does anyone have any insight?

[troutbreath]

I think it has something to do with having to spawn near the City. They have been dropping in numbers every year. There use to be lots out there.

[fishherron]

I think it has something to do with having to spawn near the City. They have been dropping in numbers every year. There use to be lots out there.

You almost got it right. I lived on Douglas Island for the first five years of my life, from 39to 44. I remember the beaches were loaded with these little fish.We had a hunting dog, a lab terrier cross that would see the fish finning close to the surface, then would swim out and retrieve the fish and bring it to shore for me. It is my opinion that pollution did most of the damage.  There was not a lot of commercial fishing done for these fish. But at one time all the sewers from above Prince George and below emptied into the Fraser. Along with the chemicals from the log booms, these little fish did not have much of a chance. Most salmon and trout get to spawn in fairly clean water but not so the eulachon. They spawn on the sand bars of the Fraser. Most do not go to far above the Mission bridge. Again man will kill off another creature. This time we are all equally to blame.

[Sam Salmon]

Some people are sure that the decline in Oolie populations coincides almost exactly with the rise in Shrimp Trawling.

It is true that there is no Saltwater Commercial opening for Oolies so what's happening to them out there anyway?

Myself I only eat trapped Prawns no trawl caught Shrimp from anywhere.

[Randog]

I second the shrimp trawler theory

[Fish Assassin]

The low returns of eulachons seems to be consistent up and down the coast and extending south of the 49th parallel. Fishermen in Oregon reported very poor returns last year.

[Grub]

I've worked on a shrimp boat.  Shrimp trawlers only drag their nets at a speed of 1 knot (eulachons would swim out of the net) and the net is dragged on the bottom (far below the surface feeding  eulachons).  From my experience only slow bottom fish like rat fish are caught in shrimp trawls.

As for the decline in Eulachons many many things could have contributed

[McWhackit]

For unknown reasons the eulachons are not surviving in the ocean. Growing up in Kitimat I remember the only thing more impressive than the salmon runs were the eulachon runs. You could literally stand in the river and catch them by hand. Now the Kitimat is listed by the D.F.O. along with seven or eight other rivers as no longer having a sustainable run.

[fishherron]

Jeez, maybe were polluting the oceans. Ah! no way, could never happen!!!!

[clarki]

The Cheam's gravel extraction of the eulachon's spawing grounds upstream of Agassiz/Rosedale can't help either.

[Fish Assassin]

I hope there's a sport fishery for them this year. They are yummy