This Week in Salmon Fisheries: Balancing the Scales: Harvest and Conservation – Aug15
August 15, 2025
By: Greg Taylor
Each week, Watershed Watch’s fisheries advisor Greg Taylor will share his expert insights on what’s happening in B.C.’s salmon fisheries. With decades of experience in the industry, Greg offers a blend of observations, analysis, and personal perspective.
Southeast Alaska
Any Canadian must be offended by Alaska’s actions along our border. In all my years, I have not seen such a blatant targeting of Canadian salmon by Alaskan managers.
As B.C. and SSE (Southern Southeast) Alaskan salmon returns are entering the latter part of their run timing, catches in Southeast Alaska’s notorious District 104 are dropping, as is effort. The Catch per Unit Effort in D104 remains relatively good.
And, if you are a steelhead fisher, this is bad news indeed, as steelhead, unlike most B.C. salmon, are near their peak run timing. I was an ardent steelheader until I got heavily involved in the research surrounding FRIM (Fishery Related Incidental Mortality,) which is a fancy acronym for the true impacts of catch and release fishing relative to how many released fish successfully spawn. DFO’s primary conservation tool in both commercial and recreational fishing is requiring that fish of conservation concern be discarded. (I know, many are going to be upset that I use the term ‘discard’, but that is the term used in fisheries worldwide.)
I decided it was too much of a conflict to continue to participate in steelhead catch and release fisheries, no matter how much I loved skating flies across runs throughout the Skeena. I then stupidly purchased a sailboat to race. And I thought steelhead fishing was expensive!
To return to the subject at hand, I used to be involved in the buying and unloading of millions of pounds of Alaskan salmon from SE Alaskan seine fisheries. The number of large, bright steelhead we unloaded that were destined for either the local wildlife center or dump would break a steelheader’s heart.
I recall the time when one of my D104 fishers, knowing my passion for steelheading, called on the sat phone to tease me that he had caught 83 steelhead that day.
There are those here in B.C. who would challenge me on this, saying Alaska’s D104 catches are not the issue; domestic interceptions are. There is little you can do, they would argue, about Alaska putting themselves first above their Canadian neighbours because Canada and B.C. give Alaska a free pass on steelhead in Treaty negotiations. And they would be correct. We have lots of domestic issues to resolve. But that doesn’t make it right or acceptable.
But more important to me is recognizing what the interception of steelhead represents. Steelhead are the species we can motivate people about. We can get people — largely, relatively wealthy, privileged people — to engage in Alaskan interceptions of steelhead. But what about co-migrating Canadian wild sockeye, pink, chum, coho, and Chinook stocks? These species don’t have the same advocates, other than First Nations. Steelhead capture the imagination of many, but they only highlight the larger impacts of Alaskan interceptions.
It is difficult to watch. And difficult to deal with. Challenging Alaska is like taking on Trump. But my colleagues at Watershed Watch and SkeenaWild are not standing down, and we should all have their backs.
Northern B.C. – Area 3 (Portland Canal and the Nass River) Salmon
The 2025 Nass River sockeye salmon returns are tracking near average. However, chinook returns are terrible, raising significant conservation and food security concerns.
The projected Total Return to Canada (TRTC) for Nass sockeye is approximately 423,000, significantly lower than the long-term average of 603,000. While the Meziadin sockeye escapement through the fishway is around 79,000, which is close to the historical mean of 83,000, it remains uncertain whether the escapement goal of 160,000 will be met. Kwinageese River sockeye escapement is also well behind, with only 16 adults observed compared to the historical mean of 250.
Overall, Nass Chinook returns are much worse than sockeye, with a projected escapement of just 10,000; well short of the 15,000 goal. To date, only 43 Chinook have returned to Meziadin (vs. a historical mean of 130), and just 145 to Kwinageese (vs. 213), the only two places we count them in the Upper Nass. Gitanyow people located in the middle and upper Nass have been especially impacted, being able to harvest only less than 5% of their Food, Social and Ceremonial (FSC) requirement for Chinook and currently only half of their typical sockeye harvest by mid-August. (Report provided by Mark Cleveland, fisheries manager for the Gitanyow Nation).
Meanwhile, the Nisga’a, whose territory is downstream of Gitanyow, has an aggressive fishing plan in place relative to the commercial sector and their upstream neighbours. The Nisga’a have an independent fishing plan within the context of their Treaty with Canada. And, as with any other body responsible for managing salmon, their managers are buffeted by competing demands that often challenge conservation objectives.
Please note that Gitanyow sockeye are recommended as a sustainable purchase by OceanWise, as theirs is a selective fishery with minimal impact on co-migrating species such as Chinnok. But, unfortunately, due to the size of the return and the Nisga’a’s 2025 fishing efforts, the Gitanyow are unlikely to have any sockeye for sale this season.
Fishing for pinks in Area 3, north of Prince Rupert, was good. The seine fleet has caught about 1.4 million pink salmon. The fleet claims it has discarded about 56,000 chums. No one knows how many they actually discarded because DFO does not require fishery-independent monitoring. One must assume most of the discarded chums are unlikely to successfully spawn, as DFO does not require the fleet to fish in a manner that supports this objective. The same goes for the coho, chinook, and steelhead that the fleet is required to discard.
Northern B.C. – Skeena Salmon
The current in-season forecast for Skeena sockeye is around 1.7 million. At this run size, the commercial Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of Skeena sockeye was around 260,000. The marine sector (including the marine First Nations commercial fishery) caught 193,000. The upriver First Nations commercial fisheries are allocated another 44,000 sockeye. Any sockeye from the 260,000 commercial TAC that remains uncaught will be transferred to the upriver commercial fisheries, thereby ensuring all the allowable TAC is harvested. This is the first time in B.C. there is a process in place that ensures all the available commercial TAC is harvested, negating claims that any of the allocation that the commercial fleet can’t catch, for one reason or another, is ‘wasted’. Having said this, the goal should be for everyone to work together to try and ensure everyone can catch their allocation.
About 540,000 sockeye have passed through the Babine fence so far this year. Fence counts are tracking a bit behind what might be expected for a Tyee escapement estimate of 1.4 million.
Pink salmon returns are strong, but appear to be early, so their final abundance will not be as large as I initially thought.
Steelhead returns, which showed some strength at the beginning of the season, are now looking poor at about a quarter of what they were last year, as estimated by the Tyee test fishery. This is before they run the gauntlet of legal and IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) in-river fisheries.
Coho look relatively poor. Skeena chums, which are very depressed, are being reported in fisheries and recorded in the test fishery. This is good news. Pinks remain abundant, although it appears the return peaked early and is now declining.
I am pleased to see better chinook returns to the Skeena than we have seen in recent years. The return is still much less than it was in its banner years. They may also be benefiting from this year’s recreational closures.
Area 6 Pink Salmon
Stan Hutchings, the long-time charter patrolman for Area 6 (coastal approaches to Kitimat), reports that there are excellent escapements of pink salmon throughout the area relative to the brood year. Like Skeena pinks, their timing was earlier than normal. By the time the area was opened for seines on July 24th, the bulk of the run had moved through the fishing area and into the channels. Chums are not great relative to the brood year. As Stan says, it takes an experienced eye to count chum salmon as they blend into the gravel. He can compare escapement trends across years, but it is difficult to produce accurate counts. This is the risk of DFO cutting funding for guardians such as Stan. I fear for the future if we lose him and his colleagues.
Somass (Barkley Sound) Sockeye
The Barkley Sound commercial sockeye fishery is over for 2025. The total catch was around 270,000. Escapements are 375,000, well below the 535,000 target. The harvest rate was 42% which is over what it should have been for this run size. The return was clearly early and didn’t support later timed fisheries. Having said the above, escapements exceeded the biological reference goals of all three systems that support the fishery.
Management has switched over to the harvesting of enhanced chinook. The peak weeks for this fishery are from the last week of August through the first two weeks of September.
Fraser Sockeye
For management purposes, Fraser sockeye are divided into four run-timing groups: Early Stuart, Early Summer, Summer, and Late-Summer. Think of four overlapping bell curves. This, along with recognizing that Conservation Units (genetically distinct populations) within a run-timing group come from widely distributed parts of the province, have different Wild Salmon Policy status (red, amber, green), and abundance, will give you some understanding of the challenge managers from the Pacific Salmon Commission face when making management decisions.
Early Stuart sockeye are now expected to return at 7X their 2025 (50p) forecast. Early indications are that at least about 250,000 have arrived on the spawning grounds. This, again, is great news.
Early-summer sockeye are returning at almost double their 2025 forecast (440,000 versus 221,000 forecast). This suite of CUs contains populations from the Pitt River near Maple Ridge through Francois Lake, well west of Vanderhoof.
The summer run timing group is where all the harvest focus lies in 2025. This timing group consists of CUs west of Prince George, Chilko Lake (where the large slide occurred in 2024), and Quesnel Lake. The 2025 run size is currently pegged at 7.5 million compared to its pre-season forecast of 2.13 million.
The late-timed group consists of Harrison Lake, the Shuswap Lake complex (including Adams River), and the endangered Cultus Lake run. The current estimate of 1 million is almost double the pre-season forecast. Again, current test fishing suggests this may be conservative.
In order to protect the much weaker early-summer and late-summer run-timing groups, Pacific Salmon Commission managers have determined that they should only be subject to a maximum harvest rate of 10% at the 50p (midpoint estimate). The qualifier to this is the early-summer exploitation rate can increase with run size. Lates are held to 10%.
Now think about my description of the four run timing groups overlapping across their return. Managers must try and harvest abundant Late Stuart and Chilko summer runs while restricting the harvest of late-summer sockeye to a maximum of 10%.
All this is before we have to consider the in-river environmental conditions through which the sockeye must migrate along with the timing of the summer run return. In-river temperatures are forecast to drop in the next two weeks or so. This is important because the later the return, the lower the temperatures the sockeye will encounter, and therefore the greater the number of sockeye that can be expected to reach the spawning grounds. This allows for higher harvest rates.
At a summer run size of 7.5 million (which is likely low) based on current test fishing, there is significant allowable catch available for summer runs. Maybe as much as 3 million!
But, hold the phone. Recall that the available harvest of summers is limited by the available lates. And to further complicate the issue, the proportions of Birkenhead sockeye and Shuswap sockeye within the late-summer run-timing group is critical. Birkenhead migrate upriver as they enter the Gulf and are therefore forecast to have much higher in-river mortality than Shuswap sockeye, which will migrate later after holding for some time in the Gulf.
Even at double the preseason forecast, managers are saying there may be a limited available harvest of late timing sockeye. This will significantly reduce the number of summer run sockeye available to fishermen.
Does all this make sense in the practical world? I guess it does, if you believe the models slavishly adhere to preseason frameworks developed months before the first Fraser salmon began its migration from the Pacific Ocean, and are entirely risk-averse.
And this unfortunately describes most current DFO managers. It is not that they are doing anything wrong; it’s that most completed their educations and entered their careers long after these sizes of Fraser sockeye returns were the norm, not the exception. Most have never been directly involved in a fishery or been on a fish boat at a time when fish are abundant. Those of us who have are frustrated at their rigidity and timidity.
But to be fair to this new breed of managers, cutbacks have removed the experienced on-ground people who used to be DFO’s head office managers’ eyes and ears on the ground. (Think of Stan in Area 6 above).
Also, during the height of my career, climate change was just a thought balloon. Managers today must grapple with the real consequences of climate change. In the past, managers did not have to worry about 1/3 or more of the fish counted at Mission dying in-river.
As of today, 445,000 Fraser sockeye have been caught by Canadian fishermen, largely by First Nations fishers. The US has caught another 95,000.
And please, reader, avoid the huge black market for sockeye in southern B.C.. Support your local licensed fisherman or fishmonger. Canadian fishermen are on the water. Fresh sockeye will soon be available to all in short order. Supporting the black market distorts management assessments and decisions.
In summary, the current total run size of Fraser sockeye is expected to be at least 9.6 million compared to the pre-season forecast of 2.9 million.
South Coast Pinks
Test fishing in Area 20 and Johnstone Straits is indicating a high number of pink salmon are migrating through both areas. It appears that the Fraser may indeed have a large return of pink salmon.
Greg will be providing weekly fisheries updates, which we will publish here on Fridays. Stay tuned.
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This Week in Salmon Fisheries: Balancing the Scales: Harvest and Conservation – Aug15
August 15, 2025
By: Greg Taylor
Each week, Watershed Watch’s fisheries advisor Greg Taylor will share his expert insights on what’s happening in B.C.’s salmon fisheries. With decades of experience in the industry, Greg offers a blend of observations, analysis, and personal perspective.
Southeast Alaska
Any Canadian must be offended by Alaska’s actions along our border. In all my years, I have not seen such a blatant targeting of Canadian salmon by Alaskan managers.
As B.C. and SSE (Southern Southeast) Alaskan salmon returns are entering the latter part of their run timing, catches in Southeast Alaska’s notorious District 104 are dropping, as is effort. The Catch per Unit Effort in D104 remains relatively good.
And, if you are a steelhead fisher, this is bad news indeed, as steelhead, unlike most B.C. salmon, are near their peak run timing. I was an ardent steelheader until I got heavily involved in the research surrounding FRIM (Fishery Related Incidental Mortality,) which is a fancy acronym for the true impacts of catch and release fishing relative to how many released fish successfully spawn. DFO’s primary conservation tool in both commercial and recreational fishing is requiring that fish of conservation concern be discarded. (I know, many are going to be upset that I use the term ‘discard’, but that is the term used in fisheries worldwide.)
I decided it was too much of a conflict to continue to participate in steelhead catch and release fisheries, no matter how much I loved skating flies across runs throughout the Skeena. I then stupidly purchased a sailboat to race. And I thought steelhead fishing was expensive!
To return to the subject at hand, I used to be involved in the buying and unloading of millions of pounds of Alaskan salmon from SE Alaskan seine fisheries. The number of large, bright steelhead we unloaded that were destined for either the local wildlife center or dump would break a steelheader’s heart.
I recall the time when one of my D104 fishers, knowing my passion for steelheading, called on the sat phone to tease me that he had caught 83 steelhead that day.
There are those here in B.C. who would challenge me on this, saying Alaska’s D104 catches are not the issue; domestic interceptions are. There is little you can do, they would argue, about Alaska putting themselves first above their Canadian neighbours because Canada and B.C. give Alaska a free pass on steelhead in Treaty negotiations. And they would be correct. We have lots of domestic issues to resolve. But that doesn’t make it right or acceptable.
But more important to me is recognizing what the interception of steelhead represents. Steelhead are the species we can motivate people about. We can get people — largely, relatively wealthy, privileged people — to engage in Alaskan interceptions of steelhead. But what about co-migrating Canadian wild sockeye, pink, chum, coho, and Chinook stocks? These species don’t have the same advocates, other than First Nations. Steelhead capture the imagination of many, but they only highlight the larger impacts of Alaskan interceptions.
It is difficult to watch. And difficult to deal with. Challenging Alaska is like taking on Trump. But my colleagues at Watershed Watch and SkeenaWild are not standing down, and we should all have their backs.
Northern B.C. – Area 3 (Portland Canal and the Nass River) Salmon
The 2025 Nass River sockeye salmon returns are tracking near average. However, chinook returns are terrible, raising significant conservation and food security concerns.
The projected Total Return to Canada (TRTC) for Nass sockeye is approximately 423,000, significantly lower than the long-term average of 603,000. While the Meziadin sockeye escapement through the fishway is around 79,000, which is close to the historical mean of 83,000, it remains uncertain whether the escapement goal of 160,000 will be met. Kwinageese River sockeye escapement is also well behind, with only 16 adults observed compared to the historical mean of 250.
Overall, Nass Chinook returns are much worse than sockeye, with a projected escapement of just 10,000; well short of the 15,000 goal. To date, only 43 Chinook have returned to Meziadin (vs. a historical mean of 130), and just 145 to Kwinageese (vs. 213), the only two places we count them in the Upper Nass. Gitanyow people located in the middle and upper Nass have been especially impacted, being able to harvest only less than 5% of their Food, Social and Ceremonial (FSC) requirement for Chinook and currently only half of their typical sockeye harvest by mid-August. (Report provided by Mark Cleveland, fisheries manager for the Gitanyow Nation).
Meanwhile, the Nisga’a, whose territory is downstream of Gitanyow, has an aggressive fishing plan in place relative to the commercial sector and their upstream neighbours. The Nisga’a have an independent fishing plan within the context of their Treaty with Canada. And, as with any other body responsible for managing salmon, their managers are buffeted by competing demands that often challenge conservation objectives.
Please note that Gitanyow sockeye are recommended as a sustainable purchase by OceanWise, as theirs is a selective fishery with minimal impact on co-migrating species such as Chinnok. But, unfortunately, due to the size of the return and the Nisga’a’s 2025 fishing efforts, the Gitanyow are unlikely to have any sockeye for sale this season.
Fishing for pinks in Area 3, north of Prince Rupert, was good. The seine fleet has caught about 1.4 million pink salmon. The fleet claims it has discarded about 56,000 chums. No one knows how many they actually discarded because DFO does not require fishery-independent monitoring. One must assume most of the discarded chums are unlikely to successfully spawn, as DFO does not require the fleet to fish in a manner that supports this objective. The same goes for the coho, chinook, and steelhead that the fleet is required to discard.
Northern B.C. – Skeena Salmon
The current in-season forecast for Skeena sockeye is around 1.7 million. At this run size, the commercial Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of Skeena sockeye was around 260,000. The marine sector (including the marine First Nations commercial fishery) caught 193,000. The upriver First Nations commercial fisheries are allocated another 44,000 sockeye. Any sockeye from the 260,000 commercial TAC that remains uncaught will be transferred to the upriver commercial fisheries, thereby ensuring all the allowable TAC is harvested. This is the first time in B.C. there is a process in place that ensures all the available commercial TAC is harvested, negating claims that any of the allocation that the commercial fleet can’t catch, for one reason or another, is ‘wasted’. Having said this, the goal should be for everyone to work together to try and ensure everyone can catch their allocation.
About 540,000 sockeye have passed through the Babine fence so far this year. Fence counts are tracking a bit behind what might be expected for a Tyee escapement estimate of 1.4 million.
Pink salmon returns are strong, but appear to be early, so their final abundance will not be as large as I initially thought.
Steelhead returns, which showed some strength at the beginning of the season, are now looking poor at about a quarter of what they were last year, as estimated by the Tyee test fishery. This is before they run the gauntlet of legal and IUU (illegal, unreported, and unregulated) in-river fisheries.
Coho look relatively poor. Skeena chums, which are very depressed, are being reported in fisheries and recorded in the test fishery. This is good news. Pinks remain abundant, although it appears the return peaked early and is now declining.
I am pleased to see better chinook returns to the Skeena than we have seen in recent years. The return is still much less than it was in its banner years. They may also be benefiting from this year’s recreational closures.
Area 6 Pink Salmon
Stan Hutchings, the long-time charter patrolman for Area 6 (coastal approaches to Kitimat), reports that there are excellent escapements of pink salmon throughout the area relative to the brood year. Like Skeena pinks, their timing was earlier than normal. By the time the area was opened for seines on July 24th, the bulk of the run had moved through the fishing area and into the channels. Chums are not great relative to the brood year. As Stan says, it takes an experienced eye to count chum salmon as they blend into the gravel. He can compare escapement trends across years, but it is difficult to produce accurate counts. This is the risk of DFO cutting funding for guardians such as Stan. I fear for the future if we lose him and his colleagues.
Somass (Barkley Sound) Sockeye
The Barkley Sound commercial sockeye fishery is over for 2025. The total catch was around 270,000. Escapements are 375,000, well below the 535,000 target. The harvest rate was 42% which is over what it should have been for this run size. The return was clearly early and didn’t support later timed fisheries. Having said the above, escapements exceeded the biological reference goals of all three systems that support the fishery.
Management has switched over to the harvesting of enhanced chinook. The peak weeks for this fishery are from the last week of August through the first two weeks of September.
Fraser Sockeye
For management purposes, Fraser sockeye are divided into four run-timing groups: Early Stuart, Early Summer, Summer, and Late-Summer. Think of four overlapping bell curves. This, along with recognizing that Conservation Units (genetically distinct populations) within a run-timing group come from widely distributed parts of the province, have different Wild Salmon Policy status (red, amber, green), and abundance, will give you some understanding of the challenge managers from the Pacific Salmon Commission face when making management decisions.
Early Stuart sockeye are now expected to return at 7X their 2025 (50p) forecast. Early indications are that at least about 250,000 have arrived on the spawning grounds. This, again, is great news.
Early-summer sockeye are returning at almost double their 2025 forecast (440,000 versus 221,000 forecast). This suite of CUs contains populations from the Pitt River near Maple Ridge through Francois Lake, well west of Vanderhoof.
The summer run timing group is where all the harvest focus lies in 2025. This timing group consists of CUs west of Prince George, Chilko Lake (where the large slide occurred in 2024), and Quesnel Lake. The 2025 run size is currently pegged at 7.5 million compared to its pre-season forecast of 2.13 million.
The late-timed group consists of Harrison Lake, the Shuswap Lake complex (including Adams River), and the endangered Cultus Lake run. The current estimate of 1 million is almost double the pre-season forecast. Again, current test fishing suggests this may be conservative.
In order to protect the much weaker early-summer and late-summer run-timing groups, Pacific Salmon Commission managers have determined that they should only be subject to a maximum harvest rate of 10% at the 50p (midpoint estimate). The qualifier to this is the early-summer exploitation rate can increase with run size. Lates are held to 10%.
Now think about my description of the four run timing groups overlapping across their return. Managers must try and harvest abundant Late Stuart and Chilko summer runs while restricting the harvest of late-summer sockeye to a maximum of 10%.
All this is before we have to consider the in-river environmental conditions through which the sockeye must migrate along with the timing of the summer run return. In-river temperatures are forecast to drop in the next two weeks or so. This is important because the later the return, the lower the temperatures the sockeye will encounter, and therefore the greater the number of sockeye that can be expected to reach the spawning grounds. This allows for higher harvest rates.
At a summer run size of 7.5 million (which is likely low) based on current test fishing, there is significant allowable catch available for summer runs. Maybe as much as 3 million!
But, hold the phone. Recall that the available harvest of summers is limited by the available lates. And to further complicate the issue, the proportions of Birkenhead sockeye and Shuswap sockeye within the late-summer run-timing group is critical. Birkenhead migrate upriver as they enter the Gulf and are therefore forecast to have much higher in-river mortality than Shuswap sockeye, which will migrate later after holding for some time in the Gulf.
Even at double the preseason forecast, managers are saying there may be a limited available harvest of late timing sockeye. This will significantly reduce the number of summer run sockeye available to fishermen.
Does all this make sense in the practical world? I guess it does, if you believe the models slavishly adhere to preseason frameworks developed months before the first Fraser salmon began its migration from the Pacific Ocean, and are entirely risk-averse.
And this unfortunately describes most current DFO managers. It is not that they are doing anything wrong; it’s that most completed their educations and entered their careers long after these sizes of Fraser sockeye returns were the norm, not the exception. Most have never been directly involved in a fishery or been on a fish boat at a time when fish are abundant. Those of us who have are frustrated at their rigidity and timidity.
But to be fair to this new breed of managers, cutbacks have removed the experienced on-ground people who used to be DFO’s head office managers’ eyes and ears on the ground. (Think of Stan in Area 6 above).
Also, during the height of my career, climate change was just a thought balloon. Managers today must grapple with the real consequences of climate change. In the past, managers did not have to worry about 1/3 or more of the fish counted at Mission dying in-river.
As of today, 445,000 Fraser sockeye have been caught by Canadian fishermen, largely by First Nations fishers. The US has caught another 95,000.
And please, reader, avoid the huge black market for sockeye in southern B.C.. Support your local licensed fisherman or fishmonger. Canadian fishermen are on the water. Fresh sockeye will soon be available to all in short order. Supporting the black market distorts management assessments and decisions.
In summary, the current total run size of Fraser sockeye is expected to be at least 9.6 million compared to the pre-season forecast of 2.9 million.
South Coast Pinks
Test fishing in Area 20 and Johnstone Straits is indicating a high number of pink salmon are migrating through both areas. It appears that the Fraser may indeed have a large return of pink salmon.
Greg will be providing weekly fisheries updates, which we will publish here on Fridays. Stay tuned.
You forget sports fishery in Bc waters and ocean about 700?000 sports fishery annually and allowed 4 per day !! They atd allowed to catch sockeye when in the past sports were not allowed sockeye! About Birkenhead sockeye sports catching those too you have never gave us the number of annual catch of sports fishery ocean and rivers they can fish every day