North Coast Salmon Update #5 to July 14th

Here is North Coast Salmon Update #5 up to July 14th provided courtesy of DFO Area Chief, North Coast.


North Coast Salmon Update – Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Please note that in-season updates always deal in preliminary numbers. Usually these change somewhat upon receipt and analysis of all the data.

Area 3

From Nisga’a Fisheries:
Cumulative run size estimates to Gitwinksihlkw (GW) up to July 5 are 118,500 sockeye (94-08 mean - 114,500) and 21,400 Chinook (94-08 mean - 20,300).

Meziadin Fishway started operations on 1 July and counts to 12 July are: 31,653 adult sockeye.

Current in-season total return to Canada (TRTC) estimates by Nisga'a Fisheries are currently projecting a much lower return, 483,000, for Nass sockeye to date than preseason sockeye (511,000) based on the abundance that has passed the fishwheels over the past few days. Chinook projected TRTC is 33,000 (vs. 48,000 pre-season) based on current catch and escapement information.

Area 3 commercial fishery:
Ttl gn catch to July 12:
Sockeye........... Coho........ Pink............. Chum.......... Chinook
58334...............0..........18060.............31357.............1100
July 13 & 14 – Gn open – Catches to come
July 13 – Sn open – Catches to come

Comparison GN fleet counts:
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
Jul 13 – 255 Jul 14 – 217 Jul 8 – 314 Jul 12 – 164 Jul 11 – 421 Jul 13- 289

Expected Nass sockeye return to Canada is now 483,000. 325,000 are reserved for escapement needs and fulfilling FSC and treaty requirements. This leaves approximately 158,000 available for commercial harvest. Of these, approximately 75% are expected to be harvested by gill net and 25% by seine. Therefore, the expectations are:

TTL TAC Gill net TAC Seine TAC
158,000 118,500 39,500

Caution must be used when using these numbers, because the calculation of the TRTC is on a downward trend. Less sockeye may be available than indicated here.

Approximate catch to date (after July 14): 75,000 gill net; 1700 seine
(97.8%) (2.2%)

Seines are currently behind about 23,000 sockeye in their allocative split.

Chum catches appear to have moderated, which is good from the perspective of fishing the target species (less releases).

Seines re-opening on Thursday, July 16, targeting pink salmon. Upper Chatham Sd closed to protect Skeena bound salmon.

Area 4

Sockeye escapement in the Skeena is estimated to be 205,177 by end of July 13. For spawning and FSC requirements we would want approximately 334,000 by now.

Due to low sockeye escapements, a number of management actions are being planned:
Troll retention of sockeye is being prohibited.
Recreational bag limits in the non-tidal portions of the Skeena are being reduced from 2/day to 1/day, in accordance with the IFMP. Reductions to zero may still occur, depending on the projected size of the sockeye run.
Area 3 net area has been reduced, keeping upper Chatham Sound closed.

All these management measures will be re-visited if the Skeena run size increases appropriately.

(to July 14) 2009 index 2000s average 90s average
Chum..........0.13 .......... 0.15 ...........0.17
Chinook.......146.91 ........223.86 ..........178.63
Steelhead.......3.99 .........3.62 .......... 5.28

Area 6

Douglas Channel (6-1) opened for gn Mon – Tue. 14 gn vessels attended Mon, average catch was 186 chum, therefore fishery was extended for Tue.

Seine fishery around Gil Island took place Monday, 20 seines attended, catch was 6500 pink average.

Area 8

Gn and Sn fished Monday, July 13, catches still to come. Mid-day catches were modest, fishery was not extended due to relatively poor catch.

Area 10

Total Sockeye to July 12:
2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004
3915 2540 4712 1884 549 310

North Coast troll -
Approximately 50 trollers fishing, as some vessels have obtained their quota and left.

Second DNA sample results: WCVI 4.5%; Skeena 3.5%; Nass 1.1%
Main components were South Thompson – 27.7%; Upper Columbia summer/fall – 20%; North and Central Oregon 13.1%.

Estimated Chinook catch to date 43,400 from a TAC of 93,000. WCVI mort allowance is approximately half taken.

Sockeye in the process of being closed.
General coho opening is scheduled for July 22.
Chinook closure planned for Aug 3.