No commercial fishing for Sockeye salmon
Fish farmers in B.C. will have another reason to boost harvests this summer, as the commercial fishing season for salmon will be a small one. Some 100,000 Sockeye are expected to be caught from the run returning to the northern Nass River, and another 100-200,000 should be available for the fishing fleet targeting the Skeena River stocks. Pink salmon should be more plentiful in the northern part of the province also, with a catch of some 700,000 available just south of the Alaska border. Farther south, near Prince Rupert, another 100, 000 Pink salmon could be caught, according to an official from Department of Fisheries and Oceans. These fish will all be caught by seine boats and gill netters.
The troll fleet- usually catching either Chinook or Coho salmon- is expected to be able to catch fewer than the 178,000 Chinook salmon they were allocated in the north coast area last year. Licence reselection will add another 30 or 40 vessels to the existing fleet of 247 boats, says Pacific Fishing Magazine. North coast catches of troll-caught Coho salmon have been steady at approximately 180,000 fish over the past several years.
On the West Coast of Vancouver Island, trollers caught 90,000 fish last year, and that will be reduced by quite a bit this year. A very poor Sockeye season for the Barkley Sound area is also expected. Meanwhile, the recreational fishery will be allocated 50,000 and First Nations 5,000 Chinook salmon. In British Columbia, priority from a salmon conservation policy point of view dictates that the number one priority is to have enough fish return to the spawning beds to maintain a strong population base. Priority number two is to allocate fish to First Nations for "Food, Social and Ceremonial" purposes, and any surplus beyond that is then allocated to sports- and commercial fishers.
