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

Fraser and non-Fraser stocks. U.S. management agencies believe these systems producehighly accurate and reliable catch estimates despite having little or no dockside validation(Amy Seiders, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, pers. comm.). Based on theinformation provided by U.S. agencies, U.S. catch estimates of Fraser sockeye were rated“Good” for accuracy, “Unknown” for precision and “High” for reliability.Overview of Recreational FisheriesOur evaluations related to recreational fisheries management address the following twotasks as defined in the initial Statement of Work:3.5 The Contractor will describe and summarize the daily and annual catchlimits for recreational fishers of Fraser sockeye set for the last 30 years.3.6 The Contractor will describe and evaluate the accuracy, precision andreliability of methods for making catch estimates, including consideration of thecreel survey.Historically, recreational fisheries in B.C. did not target Fraser River sockeye but ratherChinook and coho. However, primarily through the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s,sockeye were harvested incidentally in DFO Statistical Areas 11 and 12 of JohnstoneStraits and Statistical Areas 13-20, 28 and 29 of the Strait of Georgia (Salish Sea) (Figure4). Prior to the mid-1980s, DFO did not count sockeye harvested in recreational fisheriesas it was considered inconsequential (Kristianson and Strongitharm 2006).Unlike the commercial fishery, recreational fisheries in B.C. are open unless closed byVariation Order. Information outlined in Variation Orders, including changes to annualfishing plans, are communicated via Fishery Notices, media reports, telephoneinformation lines and/or postings on the Pacific Region DFO website.Commencing in 1999, DFO implemented a policy that, between 1999 and 2005, therecreational harvest of sockeye would not exceed 5% of the combined recreational andcommercial harvest of sockeye. This limit has not been exceeded in any year ofmonitoring.Table 16 provides the annual estimates of the number of Fraser sockeye harvested inCanadian recreational fisheries (1991-2009) and the total Fraser sockeye harvest.48