Fraser sockeye run still coming on strong
SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton - Aug 26, 2014
The Fraser River Panel of the International Pacific Salmon Commission held their weekly assessment meeting Friday, August 22nd. They continue to revise upward the sizes of this years sockeye runs.
Japanese sources say the pace of the catch now exceeds that in 2010 which was the strongest year in 100 years. In 2010, priority was given to the upstream runs and large harvests took place as a result of increased catch in rivers in September. This year, it is reported that actual commercial catch is being planned for a greater extent earlier, and allocations have been expanded following the openings. Allocations of at least 5 million fish were achieved by mid-August, which is five times the pace of four years ago.
Local sources suggest the possibility that, depending on the pace of the late runs, the final catch might match that of four years ago or even exceed it.
The stocks being estimated by the panel include an early summer run, a summer run, and a late summer run. The late summer run is the largest and is expected to account for the greatest number of fish.
The panel left unchanged their upward revised estimate of the early summer run, at 2.2 million fish.
They boosted their in-season estimate of the summer run to 7.0 million ..
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