Good evening all. I just sat through another meeting with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and Sumas First Nation to see how the pilot fall salmon fisheries have been.
As mentioned in the post a couple of weeks ago, Sumas First Nation has been experimenting with an open weir fish trap instead of gill nets, so fish could be harvested selectively. There have been two openings (Thursday to Monday in the past two weeks), and so far ZERO fish have been harvested. There have been many challenges with this setup, fish were simply not swimming into the trap, as well as heavy boat traffic on weekends when this fishery is taking place.
This weekend, starting tomorrow to Monday, the group will be attempting a new method to harvest selectively. In the next four days, from 6:00am to 7:00pm, fishers will be dip netting from the confluence of Slesse Creek to the upper recreational fishing boundary. This again is a pilot project to see how successful the method is. This post is meant to make sure all anglers are aware of it this long weekend while enjoying the fishing along the Chilliwack/Vedder River corridor.
I cannot say this enough, but I, and I think you all should as well, really appreciate the amount of effort and time the Sumas First Nation has invested into finding ways to harvest selectively. As someone who's pretty involved in the recreational fishery in this region, I will continue to do my best to support these initiatives.
Please share this information with other anglers and groups, and please be respectful to all fishers and fish while out fishing this weekend. We are now entering the peak run timing of chinook and coho salmon, so have a great weekend all!
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Topic: 2021 Chilliwack River fall salmon fishery information & water condition updates (Read 78732 times)