June 17, 2010
Sockeye fishery opens on Canada's Nass
The Sockeye Salmon fishery officially opened on the Nass River on June 15.
Back in March, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) projected a return of over 600-thousand sockeye, a number slightly below last year's average however enough for a fishery to exist. The minimum escapement requirement for a fishery is around 200-thousand and that number will remain the same until new data is retrieved.
Meanwhile, The Sockeye fishery for the Skeena is not looking as promising with return numbers being projected lower than the requirement for a fishery.
"The test fisheries started officially on June 10 and that's the test fishery at Tyee and so we're getting numbers from that and it's still too early to indicate any in-season changes to our predictions, but our projections are not enough fish to hold a commercial fishery," said David Einarson, the North Coast Director for the DFO.
In order for the fishery to open, the target return numbers must be at least 900-thousand but the DFO said it is projecting a return of over 600-thousand instead.
