Sockeye salmon numbers crash

Sushihunter

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http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/...=2b56013d-f707-442e-9035-2df11b4ab8b8&k=14545

Sockeye salmon numbers crash as bust replaces anticipated bounty on B.C. coast

What was supposed to be a bountiful year for the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery -- the height of the four-year cycle -- is beginning to look like a bust.

By The Vancouver SunJuly 27, 2009

What was supposed to be a bountiful year for the Fraser River sockeye salmon fishery -- the height of the four-year cycle -- is beginning to look like a bust.

Returns are so low for early Stuart sockeye, the first run of the season, that the Pacific Salmon Commission has lowered its estimate by 48 per cent.

Instead of the 165,000 projected before the season started, the commission now expects 85,000, after just 83,484 fish had shown up as of Friday.

The commission has also downgraded its pre-season projection of 739,000 early summer sockeye by 64 per cent to 264,000.

But the big question is what will happen to the summer sockeye, which are supposed to make up 83 per cent of the 10.5 million salmon the Pacific Salmon Commission had predicted would make their way up the Fraser River this year.

The summer sockeye run so far has been "well below expectations," said a fishery notice released by Fisheries and Oceans Canada on Friday.

The summer sockeye are supposed to make their way to the Fraser River between now and the end of August. So far, just 7,160 have shown up, but it's still early.

The Fisheries and Oceans Canada report is not optimistic, noting: "Fraser River water temperatures are forecast to reach approximately 21 C by Aug. 1. Water temperatures exceeding 20 C may cause high en route mortality of Fraser River sockeye."

As a result of the low returns, the sockeye fishery on the Fraser River has been closed until further notice, raising concerns that first nations may not be able to catch enough for their food fishery.

"Most Indians who live in the Fraser watershed are low-income or poor," said Ernie Crey, an adviser to the Sto:lo Tribal Council. "The fishery is their principal source of dietary protein."

First nations have first priority on the sockeye fishery. It is opened to commercial fishing and sport fishing only if there are enough fish. In June, federal salmon resource manager Jeff Grout said all three groups were expected to be able to participate in this year's fishery.

Last year's sockeye salmon catch was 1.7 million fish, Fisheries and Oceans Canada salmon team leader Paul Ryall said last September. That was well below the average return of 4.4 million fish.

In October, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature went so far as to label B.C.'s sockeye salmon a threatened species.

dkarp@vancouversun.com

© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.


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