Sockeye opening makes for busy waterfront Wednesday

The North Coast commercial fleet took advantage of a sixteen hour opening on Tuesday taking to the waters of Area Five surrounding the Skeena, after the most recent stock assessments gave the Department of Fisheries and Oceans cause to issue the welcome Fishery Notice on July 23rd.

Rushbrook Floats hosted a large number of vessels on Wednesday, with others still unloading their catch at the Fish Dock at Canadian Fish on George Hills Way.

The incoming fish was quickly turned around and continues to head out the shipping doors as trucks came and went to take the catch off to the Lower Mainland and beyond.

Boats on station at the Canadian Fish Plant on George Hills Way
on Wednesday, others were berthed at Rushbrook Floats
after a short opening for Sockeye on Tuesday

Prince Rupert City Councillor Joy Thorkelson provided the first heads up for the opening on Monday night at the July meeting for City Council, calling in the good news from out of town, advising Council that things were looking up for the fishing season for some areas of the North Coast.

"The happy news is, that we have almost triple the escapement on the Skeena that we thought we would have and so we are going fishing tomorrow (Tuesday) for sockeye. So the commercial fishery is on, the food fishery is fine, I don't know what the sports are doing with sockeye but I imagine that they are already allowed to catch them. So anyway it's a happy day for Prince Rupert, the Skeena is looking very healthy right now"

While Councillor Thorkelson was making note of the commercial and First Nations fishery opportunities of recent days, those in the Recreational fishery may learn more about their long term fate later this week, as DFO reviews the data on hand and determines what steps may be next for the remainder of this years summer fishing season.

However, not all areas of the region are in a position to loosen the restrictions, as we noted yesterday, in the Nass Valley, the Nisga'a Fisheries and Wildlife Department has postponed any Nass River Sale Fisheries until further notice as they look to support reaching escapement and domestic fishery goals.

Wednesday also found Department of Fisheries Officers on site at Rushbrook Floats, posting notices to the board at Rushbrook and keeping an eye on the recreational scene on the east end docks.

The Department of Fisheries was on hand at Rushbrook Floats on
Wednesday, posting fishing notices and  engaging
with those that were tied up at the floats.

More items related to the North Coast fishery can be found on our archive page here.


Cross posted from the North Coast Review.