THE FISHERMAN, JULY 26,1995
Early Stuart sockeye down from forecast
Escapement levels on early Stuart sockeye should be well above the target set by salmon managers, with some 210,000 spawners recorded past Mission, the Pacific Salmon Commission reported last week DFO had set target escapement at 150,000 in its latest stock assessment.
PSC executive director Ian Todd said the run size was currently projected to be 225,000, down substantially from the pre-season forecast of 700,000 and down even from the July 7 estimate of 275,000. As the run
'We didn't perceive any conservation problem.'
— Larry Rutter Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
size was downgraded, DFO had extended the closures beyond the commercial fishery to include the aboriginal commercial fisheries and sports fisheries.
The only commercial fishing on early Stuart stocks took place July 12 when the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission scheduled a 12-hour for Northwest Tribes off Point Roberts in Washington State.
The opening touched a furore throughout the fleet since every sector on the Canadian side — commercial, aboriginal and recreational — had stayed away from the early run fish to ensure that escapement target levels were met. Even Native food fishing openings were put on hold, except for the Carrier-
Sekani who have no other Eraser River stocks to harvest.
AlLill, chair of the PSC Fras-er River panel, said the panel had tried to get agreement from Washington state and the Commission to cancel the fishery but was unable to get it stopped.
Larry Rutter, a policy analyst for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said in the absence of a Canada-U.S. treaty agreement, the Commission had decided to schedule an opening based simply on whether there was a harvestable surplus. He added that the Tribes had traditionally depended on Stuart sockeye and in the past, the run has often peaked before the Commission gets all the information it needs to deter-mine whether or not to schedule a fishery.
"We didn't perceive any conservation problem," he said. "The technical information from the PSC was that the run size was 275,000. With a target escapement of 150,000, that left a lot in between."
He acknowledged that Canadian managers had stated they wanted a buffer of additional fish to be certain spawning targets were met but said "that buffer was never quantified." He also said that to the best of his knowledge the Tribes were "never asked not to fish."
Although 22 seiners and 74 gillnetters took part in the 12-hour opening, the catches were small. Todd said the report given to the PSC indicated a catch total of 1,400 sockeye.**
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Escapement up, catches disappointing in North
Returns low on the Central Coast, Areas 9, 10 closures now in effect
Catches were beginning to pick up in the north in the last week of July but fishermen found the numbers disappointingly low as the 1995 season got underway in the North and Central coasts.
The combination of some quirky biological factors and DFO's stringent risk aversion management translated into more closures and fewer fish in the hold for most fishermen coastwide.
But spawning escapements to the Skeena have been phenomenally high this year. DFO test fisheries on the Skeena put the number at 1.1 million spawners by July 23 — more than the double the desired escapement by that date and already over the target escapement of one million.
In fact, the high escapement, combined with better than expected returns to the Skeena could mean that spawning targets could be exceeded by more than a million fish, said UFAWU small boat organizer John Sutcliffe who has been with the fleet in Prince Rupert.
So far, however, that abundance hasn't translated into better catches, he said. Fishermen have reported fish coming in smaller and running deeper which has kept catches down.
DFO north coast biologist Les Jantz said that warmer water in previous years caused sockeye that are normally on a five-year cycle to spend one year less in fresh water and then return to spawn one year early before they have reached optimum size.
"We normally get about 5 0 per cent each of four and five year fish but this year it seems to be closer to 80 per cent four-year-old sockeye," he said.
UFAWU seine organizer Bruce Logan said the catches in the seine fleet have been down, with some 54 boats averaging about 275 sockeye for the July 14 opening in Area 3. "The first week was basically a write-off and it didn't get much better this week," he said July 20.
Seines in Area 3 had taken 152,702 sockeye by July 22 while in Area 4, seine catches were up to 145,674 sockeye by July 22.
Gillnet catches in Area 3 were up to 205,291 by July 22. In Area 4, where much of the fleet has been concentrated, the catch total was up to 826,996 by July 22.
DFO North Coast manager Dave Einarson said the fleet in Prince Rupert was up to 950 gillnetters and 145 seines by last
weekend. The migration pattern of the fish this year, which has seen many of them move direcdy into Area 4 without moving through Area 3 has also had the effect of putting more boats in Area 4.
He agreed that the catches initially had been low but added that figures for the latest opening had been much better "so maybe it's changing." In the last Area 4 opening, which closed July 22, 953 gillnets netted 470,153 sockeye while 146 seines took 145,674 pieces.
But the clock is running out in the north, with the final 48-hour gillnet opening slated for this week and a 24-hour seine opening set to coincide with the end of the gillnet opening. Only one more seine opening is likely after that date.
The Skeena Watershed Committee plan developed last year and in effect again this year calls for fishing to be "front-end loaded" in July with almost no fishing after the end of the month to allow steelhead to migrate up the river.
But the plan has no provision for changes in the event of higher than normal sockeye abundance and without those in-sea-son changes, much of this year's greater sockeye abundance in the North "will be wasted," Sutcliffe said.
That is not likely to sit well with fishermen who are feeling the combined effects of poorer returns overall stocks and the heavier hand of DFO management.
In the Central Coast, Area 9 and 10 were both closed July 22, almost certainly for the reminder of the season, DFO reported. Gillnets had three openings in Area 9, with total catches of 35,550 sockeye and 13,683 chums, while in Area 10, three openings only brought in 15,944 sockeye and 7,043 chums.
Chum returns were good in Area 8 where the 102 seines fished the first opening July 18, netting 39,047 chums and 6,566 sockeye. Gillnets recorded a total of 164,309 chums and 14,971 sockeye in 11 openings by July 20, with further openings set for this week.
B.C. Packers was booking chums in Area 8 at 35 cents a pound and sockeye at $1.40 a pound, with prices listed as down payments only. Cash buyers were paying a dime more for chums and up to $2.00 for sockeye.**
SUTCLIFFE
Bristol catch a record
Bristol Bay fishermen set a new record in the Bay this year, landing 43 million sockeye by July 24 and surpassing even the previous catch record in 1993.
Herman Savikko, salmon manager for Alaska Fish and Game, said the fishery was winding down this week, with only the Ugashik River district still reporting catches. "But by the time all the reports from Ugashik come in, the catch will be up close to 45 million total in Bristol Bay," he said.
Despite the record catch, sockeye grounds prices have been around 70 cents a pound, (Cdn$ 0.95) he said, about the same as the opening of the season last year.
Sockeye runs in other districts around Alaska have been also come in at close to forecast, Savikko reported, although the False Pass fishery, traditionally considered an indicator fishery for Bristol Bay, didn't produce as projected. "For some reason, the fish just weren't there," he said.
Overall, the state wide sockeye total is currently about 65 million fish, with catches^ from some districts still coming, he said. In 1993, the statewide catch total was 64 million sockeye.
Although chum returns have also been strong in Alaska, pink catches have been lower in some districts, with Southeast Alaska showing particularly poor catches. Pink prices have also been poor, hovering around 16 cents a pound (Cdn $.0.22).—'