Anglers jubilant over sockeye opening By Jennifer Feinberg
The Progress
Sep 02 2005 Opening a week-long sockeye fishery this week for recreational fishermen makes a lot of sense, said local angling rep Frank Kwak.
"Recreational anglers are finally happy," he said.
At midnight on Wednesday, DFO opened the Fraser River to anglers for the daylight hours. It is only open upstream from the confluence of the Chilliwack/Vedder river system to the Hope bridge.
The recreational fishery runs until Sept. 7 with a daily limit of two per day retention.
The last minute announcement came soon after the commercial sector was told it would not be getting an opening and the aboriginal food fishery was closed downstream from Chilliwack. Sto:lo food fishers have openings for set and drift net for the weekend.
Local bar manager Dan Brooks works nights so he headed down to Peg Leg bar yesterday morning to catch his sockeye limit. He'd heard through the grapevine at Major Leagues the rec fishery was set to open.
"Finally it's open," he said. "Everybody is happy and there's no tension here yet. But it's going to become a zoo on the river."
By 10 a.m. Thursday, the anglers were already starting to line up at Peg Leg.
"This is where everybody comes who doesn't have a boat," he said. "It's beautiful weather and I bet over the long weekend it's going to be even busier here."
The economic spinoffs from the annual meat fishery can be huge.
"Based on the statistics recorded by DFO and various reports, the sockeye fishery is worth a lot of money to the community," Kwak said.
Tackle shops, hotels, restaurants and gas stations will likely see an increase in business this weekend.
Boundary markers are now in place on the river to show where the limited angling area starts.
"We asked them last year to put up the triangles to indicate where anglers could fish," he said.
Some anglers were considering a protest when it looked like DFO was not going to open a recreational fishery at all, despite the fact that eight million sockeye are estimated to be in the system.
The ultimate way to express genuine concern with the way the fishery is managed is to join an organization with a mandate to lobby hard to see the fish protected, Kwak points out.
Some of the organizations worth joining, he says, include the B.C. Federation of Drift Fishers, the Fraser Valley Salmon Society, a local rod and gun club or the Sportfishing Defence Association.
"There's an opportunity to make a bigger impact that way," he said. Kwak is a vice-president of the salmon society and a director of the SDA.
Dan Brooks (right) tries to catch a second sockeye salmon at Peg Leg as he and other fishermen line the shores of the Fraser River Thursday. JENNA HAUCK/ PROGRESS
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