2nd Skeena chinook opening results

July 11th saw the second opening for gillnetters targetting Skeena chinook in the rivermouth area. The results are now posted:
Boats:96
Opening: 16 hours
chinook: 948
sockeye: 2707

The number of sockeye caught must surely sink any claim that the chinook nets only catch chinook. And an average size 10lb steelhead is very similar to a large sockeye...so you would presume they intercepted some steelhead also.
The Tyee Index shows a Daily stat of 1.32 for steelhead...so steelhead were indeed migrating past the area that day. It would be hard to claim 98 boats fishing basically within sight of the Tyee Test fishery caught 2707 sockeye but zero steelhead while the Test boat caught both. But there is no record of any steelhead by-catch in this fishery.
The main points, as always, are generally no matter how you dress up a gillnet, it is inherently non-selective in nature and that reporting of steelhead by-catch by fishers is a joke. In this case, the issue is not so much the numbers of steelhead possibly impacted, but the veil of denial and secrecy surrounding the issue. The continued claims of 'selective gillnets' and 'targetted fisheries' ring fairly hollow when you see results such as these.

On a good note, forecast for chinook were so poor in the spring that no directed fishing was expected for commercial fishers and strict regulations were expected for the sportfishery also. But with better than expected returns this hasnt happened.