With biggest salmon run in nearly a century, hope returns to the Fraser

Justine Hunter
August 24, 2010
The Globe and Mail

Fishermen are scrambling to their boats to cash in on what is pegged as the strongest sockeye run on the Fraser in almost a century – just as an inquiry into last year’s collapse of that run gets under way.

Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea has been in B.C. this week and said the excitement she’s seen in fishing communities is palpable. “Everybody is abuzz about the great return of the Fraser sockeye,” she said in an interview on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the Pacific Salmon Commission revised its estimates, predicting 25 million sockeye are bound for the Fraser River this summer. That is more than double the early summer forecast, making it the best run since 1913.

Ms. Shea stressed, however, that it doesn’t mean the salmon crisis is over.

“We’re welcoming this with cautious optimism,” she said, but the unexpected bonanza also raises fresh questions to be answered by the Cohen Commission inquiry about what is influencing these unexpected variations.

This year was expected to be the peak of a four-year cycle and the pressure for commercial fishermen to take advantage of the run is intense, because it could be their only chance to make some money before the salmon numbers dwindle again.

“It’s exceptional, this is a great run,” said Phil Eidsvik, a commercial fisherman and spokesman for the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition.

Mr. Eidsvik will be climbing aboard his gillnetter on the Fraser River early Wednesday morning and expects to have his first set in the water by noon. “We’ll fish for 36 hours straight – it’s a brutal shift.”

The Pacific Salmon Commission revised its forecast based on jaw-dropping results from test fisheries in Johnstone Strait.

A fishing boat off Campbell River last week was hauling in salmon by the tens of thousands, including one day where the catch added up to 84,000 fish. “That’s the highest test results ever recorded in the history of British Columbia,” Mr. Eidsvik noted. Usually a test catch of 500 fish would be cause for celebration among commercial fishermen.

But he cautions that, amid the excitement, concerns about the management of the fishery remain.

Read the full story in The Globe and Mail

Read related stories:

• The Vancouver Sun; August 26, 2010; "Salmon from Fraser River returns to Vancouver menus"
• The Province; August 25, 2010; "Fraser River sockeye run biggest since 1913"
• The Vancouver Sun; August 24, 2010; "Record number of sockeye salmon return in B.C."
• BC Local News; August 24, 2010; "Sockeye run closes in on record"
• CBC News; August 24, 2010; "Fraser sockeye run hits 100-year high" 
• CTV News; August 24, 2010; "Best sockeye run since 1913 predicted in Fraser River"