The net pens may be a factor.
The big factors for me would be that the whites are among the later run Fraser Fish (Harrison etc) and are still in comparatively decent shape which is when the Sport Sector with all the political game playing and non conservation based closures this year have been allowed to fish, abet with massive further restriction (50% reduction in daily and annual limits in JDF etc.). It makes sense that we are now catching more white fleshed salmon because they are avaiilable in numbers at the times we are now allowed to fish Chinook.
The whites have also been somewhat protected from commercial exploitation over the years, both within the legitimate commercial fishing industry and in the black market underground lower Fraser First Nations commercial fishing industry. This is because white fleshed Chinook had/have a PR problem exactly because they are white fleshed. In the public mind set, salmon are supposed to have red or pink colored flesh and the demand and price for whites has historically been far less. When the motive was making money the whites were not worth the effort compared to the preferred red Sockeye and in recent years red Chinook. This may be changing a little, unfortunately for the white fleshed Chinook.
Any wild species that has ever been commercially exploited, as in sold to make money, has eventually ended up in trouble. Over the decades, the level of commercial fishing in the ocean and in the lower Fraser in river FN fishery has been huge, but where possible was targeted at Sockeye, considered the most valuable and easiest to sell. After their numbers declined, it seems to me there is an increased FN interest in the big red Fraser Chinook runs which in my view, factor in with all of the current fishery politics and public sector closures, to facilitate reallocation. That is not to say the early Chinook runs are not in trouble from a conservation perspective. To me it is no coincidence that the runs of Fraser Chinook that are in the most trouble are the runs that have nice red flesh and therefor considered the most commercially valuable. PR and Marketing efforts have been made to create acceptance of white fleshed Chinook in the market place over the years, with limited success. If that changes or that is all that is eventually left, the white fleshed Chinook salmon will likely also be in trouble.
