Somass Sockeye
- Thread starter pennel
- Start date
I've seen them out on the river as early as a couple weeks ago, wasting no time, unsure how successful they have been.
Run size is intially only 350,000 seems fairly low to have all sectors getting a piece of the pie, hopefully they are being conservative on their model choice and more show up.
Run size is intially only 350,000 seems fairly low to have all sectors getting a piece of the pie, hopefully they are being conservative on their model choice and more show up.
fish4all
Well-Known Member
i doubt very much all sectors will get an opportunity. if i was a betting man i would bet only one sector will get an oppotunity.
searun
Well-Known Member
Actually all sectors will have opportunities. The Area 23 Harvest Round Table has a fishing plan agreed upon by all groups. The initial harvest plan is to start slow (lower limits and fishing openings). Then once the test fishery can establish the run size and stock composition, we will reassess the fishing plan and possibly adjust either up or down based on analysis of the actual as opposed to forecast return of the run. And, its important to note that FSC has priority access which the Round Table respects and plans for.
wildmanyeah
Crew Member
I think i read somewhere on here that they decided not to make a huge deal out of it so they could get the said party back to the table or they may of reduced their chinook allocation, i cant remember.
fish4all
Well-Known Member
perhaps get an opportunity once all the fish has swam by and into the river. does that really count as opportunity?
Thunder21
Well-Known Member
From what I remember from last year was that one of the bands knowingly overfished sockeye , then got reprimanded by losing out on a chinook opening but after whining outside of DFO in Alberni all was well again and they were back in the river. I don’t know the details of the round table meetings that are held but it doesn’t appear to be working too well if one group is able to overfish with zero recourse from the other parties at the table. I asked one of the gillnetters the other day if they are finding any fish and he said about 5 a day.
searun
Well-Known Member
Your perception, however the reality was that they had to forgo a significant economic opportunity. The FN's who stuck to the agreement had an Economic Opportunity (EO) Fishery (commercial sale agreement), while those who didn't stick to the plan did not have an opportunity until it was practically too late to get in on the EO fishery. So the net result was those who chose not to follow the agreement paid a significant price.
Interestingly for this season everyone signed the EO agreements, which have specific requirements to be met. Appears to be working.
Yes the early fishing is very slow, so despite perceptions no one is killing it.
searun
Well-Known Member
Perhaps sit in on the RT meetings and see how all the sectors work out the harvest opportunities - its not what you appear to think.
Ryan A
Well-Known Member
Well I hope they did miss out on EO and continue to do so, for something done so blatantly with no regards to rules or conservation it seems a fairly light hearted sentence with the magnitude of fish taken and leaves one to wonder why it won’t happen again.
There appears to be some posters with lingering misconceptions about last season. There was a thread where this was already discussed and debated and covered these points already: https://www.sportfishingbc.com/foru...orial-by-bob-hooton.83199/page-2#post-1016453
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Lot of moaning and bitching. As searun said round table in place. It's open for rec fishing. Maybe enjoy it for once. I sometimes don't get these threads. We already beat this issue to death last year.
To original post. I am sure round table knows about the net and where it is.
To original post. I am sure round table knows about the net and where it is.
Last edited:
Whether the RT knows or the DFO for that matter is not the point.
The point is quite simply that it's a pity that the first of the fish are already open to attack.
I am sure you are right about being exploited up and down the coastline but I would have thought that when and whatever fish actually make it through those barriers that thry are given a chance especially the early ones to return to their spawning grounds.
Right now, as every year ,everything is based on a forecast which is adjusted as data arrives through- out the season.
All I am saying is that these early run fish that have survived the gauntlet should be given a chance and not taken out of the system.
Want to do it later when we have some numbers ,fine.
But we all know that this will not happen.
Thanks for the mature and insightful response, pennel.
There are reasons both social and biological to catch sockeye (and Chinook) throughout the run timing. I do agree however, that more sockeye salmon should be allowed to escape the numerous fisheries and get into the river and up to the lakes while the river water quality parameters provide better survival. That often changes mid to late summer - during the Chinook season.
As the numerous commercial, sports and FN take sockeye - those amounts come off their respective TACs. Sportsfishermen don't actually have a TAC, but an opportunity. And as searun and others have previously mentioned, FSC is a priority after conservation and before other fisheries even tho many of those fisheries intercept that same slug of fish before it becomes available for FSC capture. If there is a conservation concern - everyone gets shut down. If everyone isn't shut down - there is no recognized conservation concern.
The societal reasons for an early EO/commercial fishery includes the reality that the prices are higher earlier, before the Alaskan sockeye fishery comes online and the earlier run provides higher revenues that are spent locally and EI is largely run out. And nibbling away at the TAC slowly allows a more dependable focus on gradually restricting the fishing effort when approaching the TAC as outlined in the fishing plans.
There are also cameras that keep track of the escapement as everyone knows and those TACs will likely change as the peak of the run gets in. And the Sproat stocks generally come in 2-3 weeks ahead of the GCL stocks, which are more of a concern most years.
Thanks for the measured, responsible conversation, again.
There are reasons both social and biological to catch sockeye (and Chinook) throughout the run timing. I do agree however, that more sockeye salmon should be allowed to escape the numerous fisheries and get into the river and up to the lakes while the river water quality parameters provide better survival. That often changes mid to late summer - during the Chinook season.
As the numerous commercial, sports and FN take sockeye - those amounts come off their respective TACs. Sportsfishermen don't actually have a TAC, but an opportunity. And as searun and others have previously mentioned, FSC is a priority after conservation and before other fisheries even tho many of those fisheries intercept that same slug of fish before it becomes available for FSC capture. If there is a conservation concern - everyone gets shut down. If everyone isn't shut down - there is no recognized conservation concern.
The societal reasons for an early EO/commercial fishery includes the reality that the prices are higher earlier, before the Alaskan sockeye fishery comes online and the earlier run provides higher revenues that are spent locally and EI is largely run out. And nibbling away at the TAC slowly allows a more dependable focus on gradually restricting the fishing effort when approaching the TAC as outlined in the fishing plans.
There are also cameras that keep track of the escapement as everyone knows and those TACs will likely change as the peak of the run gets in. And the Sproat stocks generally come in 2-3 weeks ahead of the GCL stocks, which are more of a concern most years.
Thanks for the measured, responsible conversation, again.
SpringVelocity
Crew Member
Exactly
searun
Well-Known Member
Perfectly stated and explained as to the harvest strategy - slow initial harvest by all sectors, stop and assess once the main run timing happens, then adjust either up or down based on actual run abundance as opposed to using the forecast as we do in early season planning. Also the Somas run has 2 distinct runs (Great Central & Sprout) with different patterns of entry into the river and encounters in the marine fishery. The fishing plan also takes that into consideration, and we use DNA stock composition to ensure the weaker stock (GCL) isn't over-fished. If the proportion of sockeye sampled shows low GCL numbers, even with a healthy return of Sprout stocks that could lead to down-grading the fishing plans to protect the weaker GCL stocks.
Similar threads
