SOMASS SOCKEYE BULLETIN # 3 – 2012 Date: June 28, 2012
Somass Sockeye Stock Assessment Update
Pre-season forecast:
Somass (Great Central and Sproat) 700,000 (range: 500,000 to 1,000,000);
Henderson Lake sockeye outlook ~ 25,000
Escapement to June 23: ~ 90,350 (19,200 Great Central, 71,100 Sproat Lake)
Test Fishery: June 25-26: Estimate 18K inside 10-mile Point; 50Koutside Note: Test boat numbers are for only two days of testing and do not account for migration into the areas over the remaining five days.
Expected Somass Stock Composition: 47% Great Central, 53% Sproat Sockeye
Expected Somass Age Composition: 36%, 51%, and 13% for age 42, 52, 53 / 63 adults, respectively.
To date the overall age composition is 23% (42), 72% (52), 1% (53), 3% (63). Concern for low numbers of 4 year olds.
Run Reforecast: Run size upgraded to 900,000
Catch Estimate: ~ 208,350 adults
Port Alberni Tsu-ma-uss Economic Opportunity fishery – 93,100
Maanulth First Nations Domestic harvest – 12,200
Commercial Gillnet – 57,500
Commercial Seine – 34,531
Recreational – 8,800
Henderson sockeye in the catch is estimated at 850 fish
NEXT WEEK'S FISHING PLANS:
First Nations
Tsu-ma-uss (Hupacasath , Tseshaht)-The First Nations have reduced fishing effort due to high catch rate.
Gill-nets - Sunday noon to Tuesday night 8 pm; 56 hours.
Communal Drag Seine - Papermill Dam Wednesday to Sunday 6 am to 2 pm.
Maa-nulth - The harvest plan includes contracting of designated Area D Gill-netters to harvest sockeye. These vessels will be displaying Maa-nulth identification flags.
Commercial
Area D Gillnet - fishery will open 14 hours from 6 am to 8 pm Tuesday July 3rd The boundaries are similar to the June 26th fishery except for the following areas; Uchucklesit Inlet closure is expanded to close a portion of the lower inlet to protect Henderson migration, and the northern boundary line is now Bilton Point to the opposite shore.
Area B Seine – fishery will open 48 hours from Monday July 2nd 11:00 hrs to Wednesday July 4th 11:00 hrs. There will be a closed area for seines as agreed to by the Area 23 harvest committee. This area is subject to adjustment by the committee, depending on sockeye abundance in-season. The initial seine closed area will be bounded in the north by a line from Dunsmuir Point to the pilings north of China Creek and, in the south by a line drawn from Hocking Point easterly to the opposite shore.
Recreational
Fishing continues at 4 per day in Alberni Inlet except for the tidal portions of Somass River which is to 2 per day with no night fishing.
For more information please contact the DFO office in Port Alberni at 250 720-4440
I hear Holmes is catching fish!
