Fishing with Rod Discussion Forum

Fishing in British Columbia => General Discussion => Topic started by: Nostro on October 28, 2005, 11:18:02 AM

Title: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Nostro on October 28, 2005, 11:18:02 AM

It's interesting to read the DFO 2005 "reported" catch statistics to date on the Fraser:
                                    Commercial                                      FN
Chinook:                                 3,369                             23,350
Sockeye:                                 9,283                            462,776
Pink:                                       2,279                            252,599
Chum:                                       164                             73,384
Coho:                                          0                                   622
Steelhead:                                   0                                     26 
Total:                             15,094  (1.8%)                         812,757 (98.2%)

I sure am glad I'm not a commercial fisher on the Fraser this year! >:( >:(

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Rodney on October 28, 2005, 12:10:52 PM

Where did you get those numbers from nostro? :o They are very different (at least the sockeye ones anyways) to the numbers from the report that we were given last night at the SFAC meeting. I'll post them in a bit.

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Rodney on October 28, 2005, 12:27:28 PM

Here is the preliminary post-season data of the 2005 Fraser sockeye catches. Please note that this is not the numbers just from the Fraser River, but also the marine fisheries on the Fraser River sockeye salmon.

Catches:	Pre-season model 50% probability	Preliminary post-season estimates
Commercial	1,871,000	184,200
Recreational	112,000	49,700
FN FSC - Marine	256,000	278,800
FN FSC - Fraser	833,000	661,800
Canadian Total	3,071,000	1,174,500
Test Fishing	98,000	117,500
U.S.	482,000	207,900
TOTAL	3,651,000	1,499,900

Some notes:

• The commercial catch taken is the by-catch during pink directed fisheries, this is including 5,700 from the First Nations economy opportunity fishery in September.
• The recreational catch includes both non-tidal and marine. During the week of opening in the Fraser River, non-tidal catch is around 44,000. The rest comes from the marine fisheries.

More numbers coming up, including pre and post-season estimates of 2005 Fraser sockeye returns, exploitation rate by stock group, etc, as well as summaries of the season plus in-season issues.

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: dennisK on October 28, 2005, 12:34:53 PM

i thought the commercial fishery never opened for sockeye??

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Old Black Dog on October 28, 2005, 12:47:05 PM

Salt water!

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Rodney on October 28, 2005, 12:48:07 PM

Nope, like I said in the previous post, there wasn't any commercial fishery openings on the Fraser River sockeye stocks. The above commercial catch is a by-catch from the pink salmon commercial openings.

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Nostro on October 28, 2005, 01:24:09 PM

Rodney
Here are the DFO links:

Commercial: http://www-sci.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/sa/Commercial/Summaries/AnnualReports/Annual05_user.htm

FN: http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fraserriver/firstnations/firstnationsLF_e.htm

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Rodney on October 28, 2005, 01:55:13 PM

Ah ok, you were looking at the raw data, before it has been statistically made over to these sexier numbers that I got. ;)

The only way I can explain the difference in our commercial numbers, is that your number only includes Area 29 while mine includes other marine pink fisheries further up the coast.

Not sure how to explain the FN numbers. ::) The only thing I see missing in yours is the data from Interior BC, but it should only make up a small portion of the total catch...

Let me break down the FN sockeye catches some more for you.

Area	Communal License Harvest Targets	Fraser Sockeye Catch (Prelim. Post-season
South Coast	250,000	278,000
Lower Fraser	449,000	457,000
Middle/Upper Fraser	300,000	205,000
TOTAL	998,000	940,000

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Rodney on October 30, 2005, 11:14:15 AM

Good thing the freezers are partially filled now eh, otherwise this thread would be ten pages by now. ;) So I guess the numbers are not questionable after all.

Title: Re: Fraser River- 2005 catch count
Post by: Matuka Jack on October 30, 2005, 04:40:43 PM

The FNs sure eats a lot of salmon.