SOCKEYE SALMON IN THE HEADLINES

                                 


BIGGER THAN THE BIGGEST ?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/anticipated-salmon-run-could-overwhelm-fraser-river-this-summer-experts-say/article17336330/

http://www.courierislander.com/sports/fishing/campbell-river-s-ardent-angler-pre-season-sockeye-forecast-could-make-2014-a-summer-to-remember-1.872111

 The 2014 sockeye forecast is given a wide range, but the middle of the range, 23 million, compares with the 2010 return of 29 million, which has been called the Return of the Century.  

Could it be bigger than the biggest run in one hundred years ?  The upper end of the forecast ranges to 70 million, which more than doubles the biggest run. That is so far off the graph that the experts are advising using caution in interpreting this figure.

These sockeyes are the progeny of that huge 2010 return. Sockeyes are complicated, coming from many different rivers and tributaries , with differing characteristics, including dominant years and ages, but that is all taken into account . Those tiny sockeyes were estimated on their way out , and sea conditions were very favourable.  We won’t really know how many adults there are until they start coming in . 

So sockeyes are getting all the attention.  But there is good news for cohos and chinooks, also.   I posted in March that the annual study ,using a large research ship with a trawl net, counted increased numbers of juvenile coho over-wintering in Georgia Strait.  That also indicates good conditions in these inside waters.  In April, I wrote about the good forecast for chinook salmon.

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