February 12, 1957
THE FISHERMAN
Page 3
Chum Failure Features 1956 Spawning
Worst feature of 1956 spawning was the failure of chum runs to materialise in virtually all sections of the British Columbia coast including the Queen Charlotte Islands, according to a report issued this month by the federal department of fisheries.
This marks the second consecutive year such a phenomenon has occurred, the department notes, and this year it is particularly significant since 1956 was the brood year of stocks which escaped during the seven-week 1952 fall chum strike.
Though the report makes no mention of the fact, 1955 and 1956 were the years which would have first reflected any catches of salmon which might have been made by Japanese mother-ships in the North Pacific. In that possibility may lie the answer to what has happened to the vanishing chum over the past two seasons.
These figures indicate what has been happening: from a 1948 pack of 496,553 cases, there were 203,-633 cases canned in 1956, and that with ample escapement in 1952 when only 91,000 cases were packed.
With no strike to becloud the story in any way, favorably or otherwise, the packs of the 1955 cycle tell the same tale.
In 1947, B.C. produced 486,615 cases; in 1951, the pack was down slightly to 461,806 cases, but in 1955, it really went all to pieces, with a mere 125,219 case pack being recorded.
In a foreword to its summary on spawning last year, the department notes these "trends or developments of special interest":
<» H <t GENERALLY NORMAL No outstanding
runs were looked for in 1956. With the exception bf chums, the returns, as reflected in catches and spawning ground escapements, indicated the occurrence of the several species at levels comparable to brood years with normal variations as applied to the various areas and species.
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SPECIAL MEASURES Special
regulatory measures designed to increase salmon escapements for reproduction were applied in Skeena, Butedale, and Bella Coola
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NAAS AREA GOOD After a series of
low production years, the Naas area experienced excellent runs of all species of salmon.
O O RIVERS, SMITHS GOOD There
was a
good run of sockeye to Rivers and Smiths Inlets, providing a commercial catch of slightly less than 1,500,000 fish as well as satisfactory supplies for spawning ground needs.
J> $ O-
PINKS BELOW While the catch AVERAGE of pinks amounted to some 7,-352,000 fish and was below general annual average, it was approximately two million fish greater than the catch in the brood year 1954. It is noteworthy that individual size of the fish generally was small, almost one pound less than normal
Q O Q CHUM DECLINE For the second consecutive year, outstanding feature was the serious decline in the chum run to most sections of the coast. A lengthy fishermen's strike during September and October in 1952 helped to provide brood stocks, the progeny of which would make up the runs in 1956. Although the runs in a few areas were larger than that of 1955, generally they were only about one-half of normal.
Despite immediate application of added fishing restrictions designed to augment escapements for reproduction purposes, the seeding of the spawning grounds with few exceptions can only be classed as light.
As this year's failure follows that of the 1955 coastwise pattern, it can again only be assumed, with present information, it resulted from very unfavorable survival conditions either in fresh water or later during the longer period of existence in the ocean.
& & <* QCI CHUMS The chum failure in Queen Charlotte Island area was pronounced, and is the fourth consecutive season of poor chum runs, calling for immediate application of extraordinary measures for the rehabilitation of the once prolific chum streams of this area.
Vancouver Province Photo
WHAT ARE PROSPECTS? ^Z^ZTJ^Z
What the prospects are fore the cycle years of 1956 are detailed in the spawning: summary published on this page.
Pink returns to this area were also disappointingly light and will also require special conservation attention.
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FRASER AREA Despite special protective measures, chums destined for the Fraser were seriously reduced in numbers during passage through Johnstone Straits and Discovery Passage by the highly efficient and mobile seine and gillnet fleets there. Other important chum reproduction areas, in common with the Fraser, also suffered from the effectiveness of this fishing operation. These included generally the streams along the east coast of Vancouver Island below Seymour Narrows as far south as Chemainus River as well as on the mainland streams opposite, including Jervis Inlet and Howe Sound. Further measures to provide for an adequate progressive escapement through this fishery are imperative immediately.
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MIGRATION AIDS Two further aids to salmon spawning migration were brought into operation during the year. Concrete and . steel fish-ways were completed at Naden River, flowing into Naden Harbor on the north coast of Graham Island, in time to enable pinks and chum salmon to migrate to spawning grounds not previously reached above the falls, and also facilitated passage of sock-eye and cohoe. Two similar fish-ways were completed at Indian River on Princess Royal Island where previously serious losses of spawning salmon, particularly pink and chums, had occurred at unfavorable low water stages.
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HIGHER EFFICIENCY The
problem of securing adequate escapements for perpetuating our salmon runs was accentuated by the greater catching efficiency of the net fishing fleet; coupled with this was the high mobility of the fleet for day-to-day concentration on high points of developing runs.
Fair For Sockeye
While the overall return of sockeye to the Fraser system was slightly less than in the cycle year, the escapement to the various spawning grounds is considered satisfactory. The Chilko spawning was heavy and equal to brood year.
In the northern area all the principal sockeye areas received satisfactory supplies, i.e., Naas, Bella Coola, Rivers and Smiths Inlets. The Skeena, still in process of recovering from the Bab-ine slide losses, experienced a run of unexpected proportions below normal but much larger than in 1955. On Vancouver Island the Nimpkish system was well stocked. The escapement to the Somass River in Alberni Inlet was light, amounting to about half of the cycle year.
Spring Salmon
Stocks of springs throughout the province were fairly well maintained. In District 2 the escapement to the Naas and Skeena Rivers was above average and in Bella Coola a heavy escapement, one of the best ever observed, reached the spawning grounds. Supplies in Rivers Inlet were better than average.
Along the east coast of Vancouver Island and the adjacent mainland, stocks were moderate except in the Campbell and Salmon Rivers where they were only 40 percent of the brood year
levels and in the Puntledge River where stocks were light. There was a good run, the best in the past three years, to the Somass River.
In the Fraser River system-the run was below brood year levels in the Prince George, Yale-Nicola and Mission-Harrison areas but comparable to the cycle year in the Quesnel-Chilko, Kamloops Chilliwack-Hope sub-districts.
Cohoe Fared Well
Escapement of this species in District 2 was generally good and well above parent year abundance in all sections with the exception of the streams in the Queen Charlotte Islands and Rivers and Smiths Inlets areas where spawning was light.
In the streams of the east coast area of District 3, supplies were above average in the Alert Bay area, satisfactory in the Quathi-aski and Pender Harbor Districts, only fair in the Comox and Cow-ichan areas and light in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith sub-district. Also the West Coast of Vancouver Island streams in the Kyuquot and Clayoquot areas as well as the Somass River, were well
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