Once returning in the tens of millions , Fraser River sockeye have taken a major hit in the past few years .
TheMighty
Fraser ’ s Downfall
THE ONCE SOCKEYE- PROLIFIC RIVER IN CANADA HAS FALLEN ON HARD TIMES WHERE RUNS ARE A FRACTION OF THE NOT-SO-DISTANT GLORY DAYS . BY JASON BROOKS
TheMighty
IN 2014 I FOUND MYSELF standing in new waters . It was along the banks of the mighty Fraser , just outside the town of Hope , British Columbia . The glacial silt stained river made for an interesting fishery . Like that of the Russian and Kenia rivers of Alaska , here “ flossing ” sockeye was the technique . Sure , it is frowned upon in 99 % of the fisheries in the lower 48 but for fast flowing rivers with zero visibility where sockeye salmon returned in eye-popping number , flossing is how it is done . The technique isn ’ t the concern , the fish are .
Sockeye are very delicate fish when it comes to river spawning and survival . In the case of rivers like those in Bristol Bay , Alaska and the Okanogan in Washington and British Columbia , sockeye return to lakes where some fish will spawn along the shore and others in the cold tributary streams . But for the Fraser , the sockeye return to larger river systems , sometimes rivers unto themselves . This makes for a very difficult management forecast . An example is the record year of 2010 when 30 million sockeye were predicted to return , just one year after the 2009 debacle where the estimated return was 10 million but only 1 million actually came back . Still sounds like a lot of fish but not if you take into account all of the different rivers systems that have their own specific strain of sockeye that flow into the Fraser . Including the endangered Caltus Lake run .
After the huge run of 2010 , sockeye numbers continued to bounce around like a rubber ball being thrown at a cement wall . Then in 2014 the run was estimated to be returning somewhere between 7.2 million and 72 million … yes , 72 million ! Again , sockeye are hard to predict , especially with several different runs returning to one main river system .
Standing on that gravel bar with a few hundred other anglers , and hooking a sockeye every few casts , it seemed like the 72 million prediction was more accurate . Unfortunately , this “ abundance ” of fish led to over fishing . An article by Watershed Watch
34 SALMON THE TAILOUT & STEELHEAD JOURNAL
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