Sockeye season opens today
Biggest run in years
Brett Bonderud, Alberni Valley Times, Tuesday, May 01, 2012
This year's sockeye salmon run is expected to be one of the biggest in decades, local fishing authorities say.
"We could have as many sockeye as returned to the Fraser River last year," Alberni Sport Fish Advisory Committee member Bob Cole said.
Run projections are expected to be 700,000 to one million this year, Tseshaht chief councillor Les Sam said.
The Fraser River had about 1.4 million sockeye last year.
"These salmon are returning from the 2008 and 2009 migrations," Cole said. "They're rebounding due to proper catch and escapement practices."
The Port Alberni and Alberni Valley sockeye are managed through a collaborative process by the regions' sportfishers, First Nations and the Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The group met yesterday in Parksville to discuss salmon projections and catch limits for the region's sport fishing industry.
This year's catch limits are expected to be two sockeye caught at Papermill Dam and four in the Somass Canal for sporties.
Cole said this is the first time in years the limit has been set so high at the beginning of the season.
"Not since the 1990s," he said. This is the third year in a row the sockeye salmon run is expected to exceed 600,000. Last year, the run was more than 800,000, Cole said.
The first sockeye have already been caught by Tseshaht First Nations. The fish are four and five-year-olds from the 2007/2008 migration heading back to Sproat and Great Central Lakes to spawn.
May is just the beginning of the season, and sockeye will not hit big numbers until about June.
At that time, the group will determine possible commercial fishery numbers.
SALMON, from Page 1
"We'll have counters in the Stamp and Sproat spillways," Cole said.
From preliminary projections for this year's run, the indications are there will be more than enough fish to make a limited commercial run viable, but accurate numbers cannot be determined until the season is in full swing in a month or so.
"There are indications there will be good commercial access on sockeye," Cole said.
Expectations are for gillnetters to be in the water June 12 and seiners shortly afterward.
Cole said there is an agreement for a seiner-free zone around the China Creek/Underwood area at least to Sproat Narrows.
With the unprecedented sockeye salmon run projected for this year, Cole said there will also be a "full economic opportunity" for a First Nations' commercial run and said an agreement had been worked out with First Nations yesterday for this year's run.
The agreement was based in part by the early catch of sockeye by First Nations people.
"You don't normally see that in April," Cole said.We've addded a
