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Complete recreational salmon fishing closure

Leader restriction

Barfishing only

No changes needed

[Rodney]

Background information

Earlier in the season, the Fraser River Panel predicted that the early Stuart sockeye salmon would pass through the Fraser during the following periods:

June 27 to July 19: Steveston to Port Mann Bridge
June 28 to July 21: Port Mann bridge to Sawmill Creek

Since June 21, test fishing catches of early Stuart sockeye salmon in both marine waters and Fraser River have been extremely low. The escapement of Early Stuart sockeye past Mission through July 7 is 12,000 fish. The original predicted run size (258,000 fish at 50% probability) has been revised and based on the test fishing results the current estimated run size is at 35,000 fish.

Conditions for salmon migration in the Fraser River is currently satisfactory. As of July 12th, river discharge (amount of water) is 5% higher than average and temperature is 0.2C above average.

Early chinook salmon have not been doing that great either. DFO analysis of scale samples from the Albion test fishery indicates that there is a lack of four year old fish (6% out of the sampling population, typical percentage for this time of the year should be around 33%).

Due to the unexpected low returns, DFO is consulting with the Upper Fraser SFAC on possible regulation changes to ensure the early Stuart salmon are protected.

Options

Currently, commercial and First Nations fisheries have remained closed (with the exception of some communal and ceremionial openings for FN) while recreational angling has remained opened since May 1st. There are several options that

Having a complete recreational salmon fishing closure until the summer sockeye salmon arrive (the stocks that usually allow an recreational opening) may ensure a safe passage for all early Stuart sockeye salmon and early chinook salmon.

Restricting salmon fishing method to barfishing only allows anglers to fish selectively as most fish taken by barfishing are chinook salmon. However, Fraser River visibility and level are currently not ideal for barfishing. Further more, wouldn't this change contradict the need to preserve early chinook salmon?

Most anglers employ leader length over five feet when bottom bouncing on the Fraser River. Long leaders (especially those longer than the rod length) result in lengthy fish fighting time. If a sockeye is hooked, the fish may die from exhaustion due to this fishing method. Having a leader length restriction would reduce the fighting time if the fish needs to be released safely.

Some argue no changes are needed, as catch per effort by recreational fishermen is so small. Although our group is the only sector that is opened for fishing on the Fraser, our implication on the fish stocks is minimal, yet the sportfishing sector provides large economic benefits into the local communities. Some say any changes to the regulations would be a political one.

On the other hand, by keeping the sportfishery open while other two sectors are closed due to conservation, what is the message that we are sending out to the general public? Would others assume that there isn't a will to protect and conserve within our community?

Please complete the poll above and provide some feedbacks if you wish. I shall forward your concerns when consultation with DFO begins.

[DragonSpeed]

You missed "No fishing for Salmon by ANY sector"

[allwaysfishin]

i agree wholeheartedly with dragonspeed. ABSOLUTE TOTAL CLOSURE OF ALL SALMON FISHING BY ALL GROUPS. that means FN (ceremonial communal or otherwise),COMMERCIAL, TEST, GUIDES and RECREATION.
I feel that every liscence holder who signs his name where it says signature on the liscence, signs a contract that , above all else, recognizes and commits to the ideals of CONSERVATION.

[Fish Assassin]

You're going to get some heated arguments from bar fishermen.

[Rodney]

i agree wholeheartedly with dragonspeed. ABSOLUTE TOTAL CLOSURE OF ALL SALMON FISHING BY ALL GROUPS. that means FN (ceremonial communal or otherwise),COMMERCIAL, TEST, GUIDES and RECREATION.

Good points.

Keep in mind that conservation is placed on top priority in fishery management, then First Nations have first rights on ceremonial fisheries, then recreational anglers, then commercial fishermen.

Keep your thoughts coming and cast your votes please, ideally before tomorrow evening so I have a chance to go through everything.

[allwaysfishin]

conservation should be the desire of all fishermen, even the barfisherman. no special interests.... shut it ALL down

[pinkwool]

Hoooold on. Do you see anything wrong with the current state? Did you see any sockeye dead or killed by rec. fishermen? Instead of spending tyime at the keyboard I would suggest to some posters go on the river see what's is going on there. With the water coming down there will be prime chinook opportunities before sockeye crowds flood the river in two weeks. I certainly don't want to miss this time I've been waiting the whole year for and preparing for it (new tackle, etc.).

[DragonSpeed]

The fact is that FN get a crack at fish BEFORE Recreational.  If we want to keep them from netting the important fish, the river will have to be closed.  Otherwise FN THEN Rec fishermen

[allwaysfishin]

Pinkwool
HHHOOOOLLLLDDD on yerself bud. I work in the industry, spend time on the net and the phones with fishers and other shops, every day. I also spend many hours on the river, many times not even fishing. I've also lived for several years (in the past) in rosedale and chilliwack where all the "carnage" takes place. I've also spent well over 1/2 of my 36 years living, fishing the fraser and other local rivers.
When I make the comments I do they come from being educated to the realities of the situation we are facing.
I stand 100% behind my comments in this post, every letter of every word.

[FISHIN MAGICIAN]

hey....way to go allwaysfishin.

SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN!

First, in recent years I haven't enjoyed getting shut down in the salt before other groups, and being shut down in the salt is total BS when I go over to the Fraser and watch EVERY OTHER USER group catching fish.

To be honest, SHUT THE WHOLE THING DOWN FOR EVERYONE that way there is no bickering, fair is fair for everyone, and people get a taste of what it is like to do without for once.

Personally, going out to the rivers as I have, and seeing hundreds of thousands of "anglers" if you can call them that...fish a few miles of river is total crap....I would be willing to be that the number of fish that get hauled out of the Rivers on a daily basis in the lower mainland when fishing is at its peak is more that 100 times that of what gets hauled out of the Salt.

I have a boat. I pay insurance, gas, maintance, gear (which is more expensive than bottom gear) parking, GAS GAS and more GAS, food, bait, etc etc etc...

Personally, as a professional who still works in the industry myself, I have no qualms about not fishing. Shut it down, and we obey...simple as that. Fair is fair.

Furthermore, if anyone tells me that recreational anglers do not impact fish stocks, they are a liar too...cuz we do.

Personally I would like to see any fish over 40 inches in length in the salt released. That would make perfect sense to me. I can imagine the balking that I am going to take for that one..but mark my words..one day...we'll see that regulation.

As for anyone that thinks that shutting the whole thing down isn't fair..well..you should just get your facts straight.

As a matter of fact, it takes BALLS to stand up and say...close the whole thing down, and those people that object....well...as far as having no BALLS...they may have no brains too...and that isn't an insult, but a statement of mind and mentality.

How else are we going to get anywhere if someone thinks that they are better than the other user group of the resource?

CLOSE THE FISHERY!

[Rodney]

Just to make some clarifications first... This discussion forum is a public accessed forum where anyone can provide information and express his or her point of views, but it's not a tool that could be used to change the recreational fishery regulations. I think some maybe unclear about that when posting so it is important to sort that out first. The poll conducted above was a methodology for me to be educated so I can

To see changes, this is how you do it. First, you join an active group that works closely with DFO. Second, voice your thoughts to those who speak for your organization or directly to those who manage the fisheries.

Finally, I believe there is a public interest to be updated on what is happening with our fisheries so I do my best to make accurate information available to readers, so not only all of you would be informed, but also appreciate the complexity of our fishery management.

Now, onto what I can tell you tonight.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Upper Fraser Sport Fishing Advisory Committee had a teleconference with DFO tonight to go over updated Fraser River salmon stock assessment and what to expect in the next few weeks.

Stock Assessment

Most of the stock assessment discussed were on data collected from the Albion Test Fishery. If you are unaware of what the Albion Test Fishery is, please visit this section. You can also retrieve the latest test fishery result from this page.

Chinook salmon

To date, 280 fish were caught by the test fishery. 50 samples were collected for DNA analysis to determine which tributaries these fish were heading to. There is a lack of four year old fish in the sample. Normally, 1/4 to 1/3 of the sample would be four year old fish. This year, only 1 to 2 of the sampled population were four year olds.

What was unusual in the sampled population is that Birkenhead fish make up about 25% of the population. Birkenhead has a very low number of chinook returning (ie. several hundred fish only). The large % in the sample can be interpreted in a few ways: The run is stronger than anticipated (which is pretty unlikely), or the other runs are just so much smaller/late that the Birkenhead run formed the major part in the 2005 return.

Sockeye salmon

Original estimate of early Stuart sockeye salmon was 258,000 fish at 50% probability, based on fry sampling. The test fisheries' results produced a new estimate at 35,000 fish, which is much lower than what was first anticipated. Are they simply late? Or is there a high marine mortality? Only time will tell.

Estimates of other sockeye runs:

Lake Washington fish - pre-estimated at 400,000 fish, now downgraded to 71,000 fish.
Barkley Sound fish - pre-estimated at 500,000 fish, now downgraded to 425,000 fish.
Skeena - pre-estimated at 1,500,000 fish, now downgraded to 800,000 fish.

Overall, it looks like most runs are lower than anticipated. Does this indicate a lower return of the summer runs that normally provide a recreational opening? The relationship is weak and almost no correlation at this point.

Sportfishery catch data

Using the data collecte by the creel surveys conducted, the equations produced the following catch numbers by sportfishermen:

102 chinook salmon in May
300 to 700 chinook salmon in June
1,500 chinook salmon in July (based on the data collected up to July 10th, estimated) <--- The advisory board members found the numbers for June and July way too high, it doesn't reflect the true catches that take place out there. Maybe the numbers need to be revised.

migratory conditions

As mentioned in an earlier post, Fraser River conditions for migration are satifactory.

First Nations openings

There was a Cheam Band ceremonial opening today from 8am to 8pm, another one tomorrow (Friday) from 8am to 8pm. The catch quota is 20 chinook salmon, netting will be stopped after 2 sockeyes are caught. 11 chinook salmon were caught today, no sockeyes were caught. The net size is 8 inch mesh. The net is set at once per hour (8 sets).

Total number of sockeye caught by FN to date is 40.


DFO currently has no conservation concerns on the recreational chinook fishery, so at the end of the meeting it was decided no changes be done. The fishery remains open (this may of course, change if new information becomes available, so check the fishery notices or we'll also post it here if changes take place).

This above information was retrieved from the notes I took during the call. I try to be as accurate as I could, but if there is an error, please email me so they can be fixed.

My own comments follow in the next post (edit, it'll come tomorrow instead, it's 2:20am. zzz....).

[Rodney]

I personally feel that the fish has to come first, and like some of you mentioned earlier, the river should be closed for salmon fishing for a week or two. Those numbers pose an alarming trend, and there is still a lot of uncertainties to what exactly is happening with the runs.

Statistics show that the sportfishing sector does not directly pose a threat to the stocks. Catch per effort is just so much smaller than a drift net. However, do our actions indirectly pose a threat to the stocks? DFO is under a lot of pressure from both interest groups (sporties and FN) as both want equal opportunities to utilitize the resource. The sporties argue that FN has every right to fish (with rod and reel) during this time, just not with drift nets because of its inability to be selective (fish caught cannot be released). DFO has no legal ground to deny a ceremonial net opening because as long as the recreational fishermen are allowed to fish, they have every right to do so as well.

So, by keeping our fishery opened, we ultimately jeopardize some of the concerned stocks by allowing the other user group to net. Yes I understand we have the right to sportfish, but at which point do we tell ourselves it is time to voluntarily take one step back for the sake of the fish? The situation is very politically driven, nobody wants to lose a fight. Sadly, if the fight becomes lengthy, no one will win, including the fish.

On the other hand, the sportfishing industry is big. The Fraser keeps people employed. If the sportfishing opportunities become unavailable, people lose their jobs and business. This doesn't only have a tremendous impact on the economic status, but may also lead to the degradation of the community's health. Keeping individual anglers and guides off the river does not necessarily do goods. Who will be the eyes and ears on our waters? The fishery is also money driven. Without the demand, would there be an interest from the government to spend more money to manage it? A closure would have a cascading effect that can take a long time to recover. Is it in our best interest to tell the non-angling public that the fishery is closed due to low returns of sockeye salmon and then reopen it again two weeks later?

It's not always black and white.

Personally, I would keep myself away from the river for now, at least until July 22nd (estimated date that escapement of early Stuart sockeye reaches 90%). I will not barfish to specifically target chinook salmon until that date even if CG tries to bribe me. The chinook salmon stocks appear not to be in danger, but those numbers do concern me. The river can use one less fishing machine for now (Nina doesn't count, she didn't even land one last year ).

So, how about those peamouth chub...?

[ERNIE]

I fully realize that this will be the unpopular opinion, however I strongly disagree with closing the Fraser to ALL recreational salmon fishing.

The Fraser River is ALREADY closed to sockeye salmon.  This time of year is ideal for red chinooks, one of my favorite fisheries.  Yes, some sockeye will incidentally be caught by recreational fishermen however ALL are to be released.  I for one do not believe that even 10% of sockeye released this time of year will die.  I have seen many anglers immediately release sockeye without having to beach the fish.  A barbless hook is not that hard to dislodge from a salmon without causing serious damage.  Water temperatures are also reasonable this time of year which assists the fish having a quicker resuscitation.

Recreational sport fisherman are not the reason that these early sockeye are struggling.  We also have a minimal impact on these stocks that are now passing through.  Further,  I do not agree with the opinion that if recreational fisherman are allowed on the river, so must the FN fishers be allowed to net.  ALL netting on the Fraser River MUST stop if we have a realistic hope of preserving the Pacific Salmon stocks.  There can be no argument made that the FN fishery is driven for profit.  I believe the FN's should be able to make a profit from these salmon as they have done for so long.  Perhaps recreational fisherman should have to pay another licensing fee directly to the FN's people for the privilege of fishing.  This system would provide a healthy revenue for FN's people and would take pressure off of the fish stocks while ensuring angling opportunities to recreational anglers.

Anyways, I don't pretend to have all the answers, I just do not agree that closing the Fraser to recreational anglers will ensure the salmon stocks are preserved.

[2:40]

Ernie, our impacts are not the point. The point is to show we can be sensitive to concervation concerns. Being sensitive to these concerns include fishing selectively. Everyone has to do their part. Even though we have a low % of impact, we do have an impact and should act accordingly. What % do we have to hit before we should start to act conservatively? 10%? 20%? FN currently have, let's say for arguement, 40% impact. Should they lower their impact to 5% by putting out only a couple nets and still be allowed to fish? Might be easier to see it from the other side.
Each user has to act accordingly and be responsible for themselves in such concerns regardless of their respective impacts.

Sad thing is, as someone mentioned, is that selective angling like bar fishing is going to suffer. In fairness though, I guess there is a very very low % impact even from bar fishing even though my scorecard for sockeye hooked on the bar rod is about an estimated 1 sockeye in 20 yrs of bar fishing.

[DragonSpeed]

We also have a minimal impact on these stocks that are now passing through.  Further,  I do not agree with the opinion that if recreational fisherman are allowed on the river, so must the FN fishers be allowed to net. 

The only problem is that it's not an opinion...it's the LAW - if Rec gets to fish, so do FN.  Conservation - FN - Rec ....in THAT order.