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

lower Fraser River. Power Point Presentation. Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 22 pp.), Anon(2008) (Anon. 2008. Interim fishery monitoring and catch reporting standards for commercialsalmon fisheries. Unpublished internal DFO report for discussion purposes. 24 p.), and Lightlyand Masson (2009) (Lightly, D., and C. Masson. 2009 (in prep.). First Nation FSC CatchMonitoring and Reporting: Preliminary Considerations, Standards and Recommendations. Draftreport prepared for the Can. Dept. of Fisheries & Oceans. Sept. 2009. 31 p.). Surely, LGL Ltd.can ask DFO to provide copies of recent documents and discussion papers (as that of Ionson2009) to help determine with more certainty if FN catches (and even commercial ones) arepotentially biased (precision levels is usually of secondary concern).LGL Response: Two of our formal requests to DFO were for documents that describe thecurrent (2005-2009) and historical (1980-2004) methods used to estimate First Nation andcommercial catch of Fraser sockeye (See Appendix B – DFO Request #3b and #6). Thereferences related to catch monitoring in our report include all the reports provided byDFO.Page 36: In earlier sections, the authors note that US catches of Fraser River bound sockeye in2009 were relatively low (Table 1). Apparently, only scale samples and used in SE Alaska todetermine stock contribution estimates, while Washington uses DNA and scale sample. Theauthors seem to take for granted the US opinion that their figures are ‘highly accurate’ despitethe near total lack of dock side validation, yet categorize the accuracy of Fraser River catchestimates as good, and highly reliable. Seems like a farfetched conclusion. In light of whathappened in 2009, it could be hypothesized that US and north coast catches of Fraser Riversockeye were seriously underestimated because of some anomaly. No evidence is reported tosupport or refute this hypothesis, but it should be investigated more thoroughly.LGL Response: In more than 20 years of conducting run reconstruction analyses forAlaskan and Northern B.C. fisheries, no one has previously suggested that “U.S. and northcoast catches of Fraser River sockeye were seriously underestimated”. Catches of FraserRiver sockeye in Alaskan and Northern B.C. fisheries have varied substantially from yearto year. However, this variability appears to be consistent with the timing and location offisheries and environmental characteristics of the years. The catches of Fraser sockeye inAlaska and Northern B.C. fisheries have been assessed using scale pattern analyses that areannually reviewed and approved by the PSC. The average annual catch of Fraser sockeyein Alaska and Northern B.C. fisheries was 120,000 from 1982-2008 (range 0-453,000). Thehighest catches occur in El Nino years when water temperatures are warmer in the Gulf ofAlaska and Fraser sockeye migrate through southern southeast Alaska fisheries.M-17