Fraser River Sockeye News - Aug 10 & 11, 2011
Fishermen get ready for Fraser sockeye
By Sean Sullivan, The Province August 11, 2011
Between 1.5 million and seven million sockeye salmon are expected to return to the Fraser River this year, with commercial fishermen getting their first crack at the river today.
About 30,000 sockeye may be pulled from the water during the three-hour opening, Barry Rosenberg, area director for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said Wednesday.
Anglers can head to the Fraser beginning Saturday, when a three-day recreational opening begins.
"We have confirmation in- season of enough fish that we're initiating a number of commercial and recreational fisheries, as well as aboriginal fisheries," Rosenberg said.
While British Columbians may be hungry for an exact number of returning fish, Rosenberg said DFO is emphasizing its pre-season estimate is only a range.
"We're trying to get away from people always just focusing on the forecast," he said. "Right now, the return is probably in the three million or so, and we may get a little better than that."
Roughly 35 million sockeye returned to the Fraser to spawn in 2010, the highest level in some 100 years and a massive shock after years of poor returns.
Just 1.5 million showed up in 2009, far shy of the 10 million expected. The federal government launched the Cohen Commission to probe the decline; it is to report by June 30, 2012.
Sockeye opening criticized as too short
CBC News, Aug 11, 2011
There is cautious optimism among sockeye gillnetters on B.C.'s South Coast as they prepare for a three-hour opening Thursday.
No one is expecting anything like the 34 million sockeye that returned in 2010 and the current prediction calls for a run of only about 10 per cent of that record number this year.
With so relatively few fish, fishermen say the coming opening is too short.
"You can only do so much in three hours," gillnetter Ted Takasaki told CBC News Wednesday. "In the third hour, it might start just getting good — then we have to stop fishing."
Takasaki hopes for at least three sockeye openings this year.
Predicting sockeye runs is not easy, and experts have been wildly wrong in the past. No one forecast the 2010 run to be the best in nearly a century.
Low estimates
Officials admit they are being prudent.
"Managers are just being cautious," Pacific Salmon Commission chief biologist Mike Lapointe. "If it turns out the run is larger, [fishermen] can have opportunities later."
First Nations fishermen have already started their season and think there could be more fish than expected.
"[The estimate] might be a little bit low," said Ken Malloway, of the First Nations Fishery Council. "Some of the runs have come, like the early Stuart sockeye, have come in 24,000 when we're expecting 17,000."
Conservationists are wary of jumping to conclusions before the fishery even opens.
"When you tend to overestimate, you have to be a little bit concerned that maybe all those fish aren't going to show up," said Craig Orr, of the Watershed Watch Salmon Society. "And that means we may be over-harvesting on these fish."
Cold weather could be good news for salmon lovers
ctvbc.ca, Wednesday Aug. 10, 2011
An unseasonably cold spring and summer could mean a better than expected return on sockeye salmon in the Fraser River.
Jeff Grout, regional salmon manager for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said the cold water is beneficial to the salmon swimming upstream.
"In general when things are colder, salmon tend to fare better," said Grout. "Flows are still quite a bit above average, temperatures are below average but in general as we go through the summer that should be helpful for the migration."
This year, the salmon return is expected to be around three million, said Grout, which is a stark contrast to last year's record-setting return of 30 million.
"In my 56 years of gillnetting, we've never had a run like last year," said Gus Jacobson, a local gillnetter. "There is fish, how much we really don't know, but it won't be as bananas as it was a year before."
Despite the drop from the previous year, there doesn't seem to be cause for concern. According to Grout, last year was an exceptional year and the research comparing this year's return to other recent runs shows an improvement.
"It's a big difference compared to 2010, but what we usually do is compare to the four years previous, given the four-year life history," said Grout of the salmon. "In 2007 we had 1.5 million salmon return, so it is an improvement on what we saw then."
Thursday will see a small three-hour window when commercial fishermen, like Jacobson, get their first run at the Fraser River.
And for consumers who are looking to buy one of the millions of salmon swimming in, prices should be roughly the same as last year, according to Jacobson.
Fishermen complain about priority for First Nations
CTVBC, Date: Thursday Aug. 11, 2011
As commercial fishermen filled their nets with Fraser River sockeye salmon Thursday afternoon, some called for more chances to fish, like their First Nations counterparts.
The nets were dropped at noon for a three-hour opening -- the first this year -- but fishermen don't know if or when they'll be allowed back out on the water.
"I'd like to see more openings. We're not going to get those unless the fish are here, and even if the fish are here, they'll give them to the aboriginals first," gillnetter Jeff Doyle told CTV News.
The Supreme Court has ruled that First Nations must get first crack at the salmon run, but only for food, social and ceremonial purposes.
Some of those on the water are skeptical that First Nations-caught salmon is ending up where it's supposed to.
"It's food fish, but it's food fish for white people. You bet [they're selling it]," gillnetter Phil Ogden said.
Investigators from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans estimate that 97-per-cent of sockeye caught in First Nations fisheries is being sold illegally.
As long as that keeps happening, commercial fishermen say that making a living is nearly impossible.
"It is frustrating, but there's nothing we can say or do about it. Fisheries stands back -- they just throw their hands up the in air," gillnetter Bob Gordon said.
"None of the young group wants to get into [fishing] now. The older generation are retiring out of it, and as they retire there's no replacements."
The DFO insists that enforcement officers are keeping an eye on illegal sales by First Nations fishermen.
"All I can say is that if its going on DFO will strictly enforce the regulations," enforcement officer Nicole Gallant said.
"We're doing our best to monitor it. We do need information from the public. If people have that information, they have to forward it to us."
She would not say if any First Nations fishermen have been charged with illegally selling their sockeye.
Second Recreational Salmon Fishery to Open on Osoyoos Lake
By Paul Everest - Osoyoos Times, August 10, 2011
For the second year in a row, anglers will have a chance to hook some sockeye salmon on Osoyoos Lake.
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans released a notice last week declaring that a recreational and commercial sockeye salmon fishery will open on the lake beginning Aug. 13 and closing Aug. 28.
The fishery is open only during daylight hours in the lake’s north basin from the Hwy. 3 bridge to a line extending between the mouth of Inkameep Creek on the lake’s east side to the Inkameep Lodge Pier on the west shore.
Anglers are permitted to keep one fish per day up to a total of two fish.
Even if you fish more than two consecutive days, you can still only be in possession of two fish.
Last year was the first time such a fishery was open to non-native anglers because such a high number of salmon returned to the lake.
Although this year’s projected salmon return of 120,000 is down from last summer’s record-breaking return of 300,000, DFO and the Okanagan Nation Alliance, the two organizations cooperating to run the fishery, have announced that the number of fish coming to the lake over the next few months is sufficient to hold a sustainable fishery.
Local First Nations communities, which can fish in the region for food, protested the federal government’s decision to open last summer’s fishery to non-natives because First Nations communities had not been consulted.
Since 2009, the alliance has been permitted to catch salmon for commercial sale as well as for their personal food, social and ceremonial use.
The alliance and DFO, however, spent the fall and spring working on an agreement that allows for a second fishery this summer for non-natives based on the criteria that at least 80,000 salmon come back to the South Okanagan.
The 80,000-fish threshold is based on the goal of keeping the salmon population in the lake and lower Okanagan River system sustainable.
In Washington state, a salmon fishery on the U.S. side of the lake has been open since mid-July and runs until Sept. 15.
Reference Link: DFO Pacific Region Fishery Notices
