Fraser River Sockeye Run Collapsing - First Low-End Estimate Of 3.3 Million Now Down To 1.2 Million

[hatrack]

EDIT

So far this year, there has been no commercial or recreational sockeye fishery due to low returns. Aboriginal fishing for food, cultural and ceremonial uses has continued, but the yields have been so low that they're unlikely to sustain the small, isolated communities on the Fraser through the winter.

Crey said the purpose of Monday's emergency conference call with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans is to map out a sharing plan among the 94 aboriginal communities along the Fraser and the dozen or so on the South Coast, two regions that are home to more than half of B.C.'s First Nations people.

Typically, the summer sockeye run, which peaked on Aug. 8, yields the greatest harvest of the season. But the latest estimate for that run is only 1.2 million, far less than the initial low estimate of 3.3 million, according to the Fraser River Panel, which regulates the fishery. Available information on the early and late summer runs offers a similar picture.

The collapse of the sockeye run has grave implications for commercial fishers and raises big environmental questions. The panel says it's increasingly likely that very warm ocean temperatures in 2005 resulted in a reduced food supply and stunted the growth of juvenile sockeye as they went out to sea, making the returning four-year-olds susceptible to predators.

EDIT

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=c27c3980-8a70-49c8-b4d1-c6526423d091

[Harper_is_Bush]

1. Global warming. n/t

[pscot]

2. Puget Sound runs are way down also

Only 60,000 fish through the fish ladder at the locks so far. That compares to 400,000 plus the last few years. Fisheries peple attribute the decline to poor ocean survival, but can't point to anything specific.

[applegrove]

3. Salmon moving north these days. Terrible.