Salmon, salmon everywhere
Despite predictions by environmentalists that the sky is falling on Pacific salmon populations due to activities like logging, fishing and fish farming, the fact remains that this part of the world has never seen such strong returns of adult salmon as are expected this year. Already, over 88 million salmon have been harvested in the commercial fishery in Alaska, about 40 million each of sockeye (red) and pink (humpback) salmon. The pre-season forecast calls for a total of about 133 million fish being caught. The catch of sockeye salmon is particularly encouraging, since this species is one of the most lucrative for fishermen.
Sockeye salmon have also been the focus of environmentalists in British Columbia, who have tried to get the media and government to focus on the salmon aquaculture industry as the culprit responsible for some unusually low returns of sockeye salmon to the Fraser River - a phenomenon that resulted in a CAD$ 30+ million (~€ 21 million) inquiry conducted by the federal government during a period that saw the second largest run in history of sockeye salmon to the same river. This year, another record is expected to be set, with up to 72 million of these fish making their way down from the Gulf of Alaska to the coast of BC.
And farther south, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that sockeye salmon stocks in the Columbia River are also on the road to recovery this summer:
Columbia River sockeye salmon have once again broken records by returning past Bonneville Dam in numbers not seen since the dam was completed in 1938.
While most of the estimated 600,000 adult sockeye are heading to spawning lakes on the upper Columbia in Washington and British Columbia, the boom is also good news for endangered Snake River sockeye salmon. Enough Snake River sockeye have reached Lower Granite Dam so far this year to make it the third strongest return since 1975.
Back in British Columbia, the success of the movement of sockeye salmon past some of the dams that were built to produce hydroelectric power during the height of the 1930’s Depression has led to the first ever opening for the recreational fishing for sockeye salmon in Osoyoos Lake in southern BC last year, and the season reopened again last week. According to a recent article in The Vancouver Sun by Joanne Sasvari, this fabulous turn-around from years of pathetic returns has been credited to the efforts by many agencies involved in the rebuilding of these stocks, among them the Okanagan (First) Nation, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the provincial government, recreational fishers and tourism experts.
On Vancouver Island, over one million pink salmon are starting to show up in the Quinsam River - a tributary to the famous Campbell River, and sport fishing limits and timing when these fish can be caught have all been increased. In an article in today’s North Islander, Jeremy Maynard ponders that the size of the pink salmon run to this river system this year might be “too much of a bad thing”. Scientists in Alaska have already documented that “overspawning” of pink salmon can lead to reduced returns in future years. And many of the sockeye salmon observed along the coast of BC this year are much smaller than seen in recent years…..
