Fraser River Sockeye Fisheries and Fisheries Management - Cohen ...

STATE OF THE SCIENCECatch MonitoringCurrent best practices regarding catch monitoring include (1) on-site interviews andperiodic fishing effort counts for estimating catches for First Nation FSC and recreationalfisheries, and (2) mandatory catch reporting combined with on-board observers and docksidemonitoring for commercial salmon fisheries. The methods used to monitor FirstNation FSC and recreational harvests of Fraser sockeye are consistent with the bestpractices for these types of fisheries; however, there are on-going concerns regarding thelevel of monitoring effort and implementation of the survey designs. The catchmonitoring programs for commercial fisheries include some of the elements of the bestpractices but fall well short of the scientific standards for a rigorous catch monitoringsystem because of deficiencies in fishers compliance with mandatory reportingrequirements, insufficient verification of reported catches through on-board observers anddock-side monitoring prior to 2010, incomplete documentation of methods, andineffective database management.Non-Retention FisheriesBest practices for selective or responsible fishing are well known for all sectors (Plate etal. 2008) but only a small fraction of the annual sockeye harvest is capture using selectivefishing techniques. Commercial fisheries could be more selective by reducing the use oflarge mesh gillnets, mandatory brailing for all purse seine fisheries, and expansion ofopportunities for trollers. The selectivity of First Nation fisheries and survival of nonretainedspecies could be improved by reducing the use of set nets, requiring full-timemonitoring of each set net, and increasing the use of more selective gear (e.g., dip nets,beach seines and fishwheels). The impact of both First Nation and recreational fisherieson non-retained species could be reduced by moving fisheries away from locations andtimes when migrating salmon are being severely stressed by high water temperature, riverdischarge and/or other environmental factors.169