Fisheries management is a very complex thing! But the life cycle of a salmon makes managing fisheries somewhat more sustainable than some other species of seafood. Because 75% of salmon return to the place of their birth every 4 years to spawn (25% return on the 5th year), we can actually count the number of returning salmon as they reach their spawning grounds. If returning salmon are lower than expected, Fisheries will not allow us to fish for that run or will make us wait until the number of spawners reaches their target.
We are eagerly hoping for an opening in Smith Inlet, Area 10. To manage this run, their is a “fence” called the Docee fence which literally counts every spawning salmon that passes through it. Every day or so, we get an update like the one below. It is based on these updates that we can make predictions about when, and whether or not, we will have fresh fish arriving in Vancouver.
We love our CSF members because they understand and appreciate the complexities of fisheries management and importance of sustainable seafood and they know that if and when they get fresh fish any given week of the summer is dependant on so many variables such as the sustainbility of a run and when spawners are returning to their grounds! Here is the Fisheries Notice we received yesterday. If you’d like to receive these updates yourself and follow along with Fisheries on our openings, you can sign up for them here.
Fishery Notice - Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Subject: FN0598-COMMERCIAL - Salmon - Gill Net - Area 10 - Update
Area 10
Docee Fence count for yesterday (July 11, 2013) was 7079 sockeye for a total to date of 30,675 sockeye. This morning the count was for an additional 1064 fish. If stocks continue to build a commercial gill net opening could be announced over the weekend. The earliest fishing opportunity would be Monday July 15th, 2013. Next update/announcement will be tomorrow some time after 10 a.m. from the Bella Coola office.