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[RalphH]

the largest spawning area is the Fraser from Chilliwack to Hope - millions of fish may spawn there and water visibility is often low. How effective could a eyesight count be? How many people would need to do it?

[Dave]

Ralph, I don't want to argue with you, that's a waste of time.
In the past the Fraser was enumerated albeit, as you say, the system is huge .... with a tagging crew at Glen Valley and the now extinct fry and smolt sampling boat at Mission.  I worked on both.
All pink salmon bearing streams had dedicated stock assessment crews, up to about 20 years ago. Now there is nothing.
That's not good enough, imo

[RalphH]

I recall seeing the tagging crew at work at Glen Valley. I think fry and smolt sampling still goes on in another form. I have seen pink fry enumeration sampling on the lower Harrison. They are still sampling and estimate operations and not attempts at complete counts. Some streams such as the Babine and Smith Inlet/smokehouse did have counting fences. The sonar fence at Mission has had it's issues but that's what they rely on and claim they account for double counting etc. The estimates based on the marine test fishery also seemed to miss the mark by as much as 50% (20 million estimate vs a 10 million return). Truth is PSC & DFO don't seem to worry too much about pink salmon numbers. These fish have practically taken over the North Pacific to the cost of other species.