Where are Alaska's big salmon?
The numbers from the commercial salmon fishing season in Alaska are coming in, and they are a mixed bag. One of the most striking of results is the number of Chinook salmon (also called Spring salmon in Canada, and King salmon in the US) caught in places like the Copper River. According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, a total of 8,055 Chinook salmon had been caught in the Copper River District by June 17, and this is the smallest commercial Chinook salmon harvest for this date since at least 1969. Historical cumulative Chinook salmon harvest averages for June 17 are: 5-year average: 27,862, 10-year average: 34,777 and 20-year: 38,964. Last year was also a low year, at a total of 11,450 Chinook salmon caught in the Copper River District.
In all of Alaska, a total of some 50,000 Chinook salmon had been harvested by June 19 this year. Although the season is not over by a long shot, it doesn't look like the Chinook salmon season is going to end up anywhere near the 657,400 fish caught on average over the past 5 years.
Meanwhile, sport fishers in British Columbia are having one of the best seasons for Chinook salmon fishing in quite a few years. Not since 2001 has the fishing for this prized fish been this good in the Strait of Georgia, according to a seasoned Campbell River-based fishing guide. This is of interest to the aquaculturists who have been blamed for the decimation of salmon stocks along the inside coast of Vancouver Island due to sea lice from their salmon farms. A run of up to 12 million Sockeye salmon and another with 14 to 17 million Pink salmon are also expected to go up the Fraser River near Vancouver this summer. The commercial harvest for salmon in British Columbia usually doesn't start until mid- to late July.
Also on the West Coast of Vancouver Island are there positive signs that salmon runs may be coming in higher than expected. Aboriginals fishing Sockeye salmon for Food, Social and Ceremonial purposes in the Somass River near Port Alberni are reporting better than expected catches, and so are fishing guides operating in small towns like Ucluelet and Tofino. "The forecasts along the West Coast, Barkley Sound, and the Port Alberni Inlet are extremely good", states an experienced guide to a local paper.
