Heat wave could impact BC salmon
Temperatures in the mid to high 30°C’s are expected over some areas of the Province, prompting calls for catch restrictions.
Odd Grydeland, June 29, 2015
The outlook for the commercial salmon fishing season for British Columbia this year is a mixed bag. Currently, fishers operating their vessels and gear in and around Barkley Sound outside Port Alberni on the west coast of Vancouver Island are enjoying a big harvest of sockeye salmon heading for the Somass River and lakes beyond.
The north coast of BC is looking forward to a healthy harvesting season with some 7 million sockeye salmon expected to return to local river systems. A specific treaty signed between Canada and the USA a couple of years ago should also allow for more Chinook salmon to come down the coast instead of being caught in Alaskan waters this year. Fishers that will be operating on the central/north coast of BC this summer will also be able to keep species of salmon other than those that they are specifically targeting.
In the southern reaches of the BC coast, the situation remains a lot more uncertain. An early fishery for Chinook salmon heading up the Fraser River has already been concluded, but it remains to be seen how much opportunity there will be for the fishing of species showing up later in the summer. There is supposed to be a considerable run of pink salmon this year, and hopes are high for a decent return of sockeye salmon. But if a prolonged heat wave, combined with unusually low levels of snow in coastal BC mountains, persists into July and August, the powers that be might restrict the number of days that fishers can be on the water - be it through the ocean waters around Campbell River or on the mighty Fraser itself. Already, there are suggestions being made by river fishers that ocean catches should be kept to a minimum, in part to allow more fish to reach the spawning grounds, and in part to ensure that First Nations and others will have an adequate amount of fish to fill their freezers this summer.
