Fraser River (BC) Sockeye Salmon Run May Have Collapsed - Vancouver Sun

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The feared collapse of the Fraser River commercial sockeye fishery this year will force brothers Mike and Ray Forrest to use their $600,000 fishing fleet for all kinds of waterfront uses this year -- log salvaging, tugboat operations, even rescue work. But salmon fishing looks doubtful as the reality of a depleted fishery keeps them looking for income wherever they can find it. "You have to do something because your family has to eat," said Mike Forrest, who has been a gillnetter for most of his 57 years.

Federal fisheries officials revealed this week that an expected bountiful harvest of Fraser sockeye may not materialize so there might not be a commercial fishery. An expected run of up to 11 million salmon now is expected to come in at between two million and five million sockeye.

A healthy Fraser River fishery normally accounts for more than half of Forrest's annual income but he hasn't fished once this year because no full-fleet commercial openings have taken place in his licensed area -- the Fraser River and southern B.C. coast. He said commercial openings up and down the entire coast have been spotty this year so fishing somewhere else isn't really a viable option. "I'd have to buy a new licence for $100,000 but what sense would that make if I'm still not able to go fishing?" Forrest asked.

White Rock gillnetter Terry Lubzinski, who's also 57, said a closure of the Fraser fishery will take away 60 to 70 per cent of his fishing income. "We've had about 10 years of disappointing results from the Fraser," he said. "The whole fleet has been hanging on and waiting for things to turn around but unfortunately, it just seems to be spiralling downward. Every year there's a new problem or a new reason why the fish haven't come back."

EDIT

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=85695375-ab16-4de2-a6b7-7e5acf6a1039