Gillnetters in the river

[Mr. Dean]

When the commercials are working, how long are they permitted to 'soak' their nets when gillnetting in the river systems?.

My bro asked me this question last night. Think I might have looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Lol.

Thanks,
Dean.

 

[Dogbreath]

I saw a bunch doing just that near Westham Island last year.
In fact they didn't 'soak' the gillnets at all-they dropped them upriver and floated them down-I suppose you could call that a soak.
It being a fairly small channel they were in I estimate soak times were no more than 20 minutes sometimes less depending who was where it was sort of cramped and awkward from the looks of the whole setup.
This was First Nation opening-lotsa DFO around but overall pretty low key.