Fishery Notice

The Fraser River Panel met Friday, August 2, to receive an update on the 
migration of the Fraser Sockeye and Pink runs to date and review the status of 
migration conditions in the Fraser River watershed.	

Gill net test fishing catches continue to be very poor both in the marine 
approach areas (Areas 12 and 20) as well as in-river. The Area 12 and 20 purse 
seine test fisheries have also had very poor catches to date. Due to the low 
Sockeye abundance to date potential start dates for the Area 13 purse seine 
test fishery and the Area 4b/5 gill net test fishery will be reviewed again 
early next week.  

During the Panel call today the run size for Early Stuart Sockeye was not 
adjusted  from the p25 forecast of 27,000 with an Area 20 timing of July 8. As 
a result of the continuing poor showing of Early Summer Sockeye the Panel 
reduced the run size from the pre-season p50 forecast level of 465,000 to the 
p25 forecast level of 221,000 with an Area 20 timing of August 8 compared to 
the pre-season predicted timing of July 30. At this run size and pre-season 
adopted Management Adjustment, Early Summer Sockeye are in a Low Abundance 
Exploitation Rate (LAER) management scenario and there is currently no TAC 
available. No changes were made to the run size for the Summer and Late 
management groups although extremely low numbers have been observed to date for 
both groups in all test fisheries.

The estimated escapement of Early Stuart, Early Summer, Summer and Late Run 
Sockeye past Mission as of August 1 is 25,800, 42,600, 7,600 and 400 
respectively. To date there have been very low numbers of four year old Sockeye 
in all test fisheries. 

A significant rock slide in the Big Bar area of the Fraser River just upstream 
from the community of Lillooet has created a 5 meter high waterfall/cascade in 
this section of the river.  This has created a migration passage challenge for 
all salmon that are destined for rivers and streams upstream of this slide. 
Very preliminary results from hydroacoustics and radio tagging during the past 
several days continue to indicate extremely low levels of passage if any of 
chinook and Sockeye at the slide at current water levels. Significant efforts 
are being made to move fish past the blockage by airlifting and other methods. 
In a further attempt to mitigate the lack of fish passage, some fish have been 
captured for enhancement purposes. A Unified Command Incident Management Team 
has been developed which includes participation of the Federal and Provincial 
governments as well as a number of Fraser First Nations. Information and 
updates regarding the slide and work being done to address it is located at the 
link below.  

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-preparedness-response-
recovery/emergency-response-and-recovery/incident-summaries/big-bar-landslide-
incident

The observed water temperature at Qualark on August 1 was 18.2° Celsius which 
is 0.2° Celsius above average for this date. Water temperatures are forecast to 
increase to 18.5° Celsius by August 7. The Fraser River discharge at Hope on 
August 1 was 4,011 cubic meters per second which is 6% below the average 
discharge for this date and is predicted to increase to 4,125 cubic meters per 
second by August 7.

Discussion on how to approach management adjustments for Early Summer and 
Summer Run stocks taking into account the impacts from the Big Bar slide 
occurred yesterday and today during the Panel and technical committee calls. 
More work will be done by the technical committee in the coming weeks to 
address this issue. 

Management adjustments are additional fish that are removed from identified 
harvest levels and allowed to escape upstream in an attempt to assist in 
achievement of identified escapement objectives for the different run timing 
groups. In-season information over the coming weeks will help to inform future 
decisions on management adjustments for the Early Summer and Summer run 
management groups should run size require it. Early Stuart and Late run 
management groups will be managed based on their respective Low Abundance 
Exploitation Rates (LAERs) of 10% and 20%. There will be no in-season estimates 
of management adjustment for Early Stuart and Late run Sockeye in 2019 unless 
their respective run sizes are considerably larger than the median forecast and 
generate TAC. It is anticipated they will be managed to the LAER, with the 
expected outcome of a spawning escapement being well below goal.

Fraser Pink salmon run size and timing estimates are expected to be available 
later in August. Stock composition information in the Area 12 and 20 Purse 
Seine test fisheries indicates proportions of Fraser Sockeye at 17% and 16% 
respectively. Non-Fraser Southern BC and Washington State Pink stocks are 
currently making up the majority of the Pink abundance at this time.

The first spawning ground report of the season was provided by DFO Stock 
Assessment on August 1. At this time Early Stuart Sockeye is the only stock 
that has been assessed and no fish have been observed in the various spawning 
tributaries and lakes to date.
 
Currently, First Nations food, social and ceremonial (FSC) Sockeye fisheries in 
many areas are still under a 4 week window closure to protect Early Stuart and 
the earlier timed Early Summer run stocks. Due to the very low abundance of 
Fraser Sockeye to date, the start-up of Sockeye directed FSC fisheries will 
continue to be delayed until the identification of Sockeye TAC for Summers, as 
well as taking into account considerations for impacts from the rock slide at 
Big Bar. The marine and Fraser River areas that originally planned to open to 
Sockeye retention in late July or early August will remain closed to Sockeye 
retention until further notice. FSC fishers in marine approach areas as well as 
the Fraser River are requested to check for the opening times and any 
restrictions in their local area as additional restrictions are being 
considered as a result of the slide. Commercial and recreational Sockeye 
fisheries are not being considered at this time. 

The next in-season meeting of the Fraser River Panel is scheduled to occur on 
Tuesday, August 6, 2019.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Regional Salmon Team - DFO Pacific
DFO.PacificSalmonRMT-EGRSaumonduPacifique.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Fisheries & Oceans Operations Center - FN0756
Sent August 2, 2019 at 1617

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Printed from the Pacific Region web site on September 28, 2024 at 1649