It was stated earlier that from the Nimmo Bay Fishing Resort seemed overly optimistic because salmon of all kinds in large numbers – a great year to go fishing! That exactly happened as North Island and mainland inlet rivers saw large returns of chum, coho and chinook salmon; many having their best showing in more than a decade.
It is found that pink salmon numbers were up sharply in almost every river on the south coast: the Quatse, Nimpkish, Campbell, Nanaimo, Puntledge and the Fraser to name only a few. There is reason for such healthy returns this year. The truth is, no one knows. Some have pointed to optimal conditions in the ocean when these tiny salmon out-migrated and others have pointed to management of salmon farms.
Marine Harvest Canada, in collaboration with several B.C. environmental groups had proposed a coordinated area management plan (CAMP) associated with our operations in the Broughton Archipelago. The CAMP includes a number of elements including annual alternating migration corridors, a cap on total area production and science-based monitoring.
To simplify: one corridor has no farmed fish while the corridor next to it holds first year farmed fish during the out migration season March 1 to June 30. Dr. Crawford Revie and his team of researchers analyzed that the effectiveness of this plan, sea lice data from active farms and wild salmon in both the fallowed and stocked corridors will be collected.
In order for CAMP to be fully implemented, various farms in the area require important, time limited amendments to their license. Should the provincial Ministry of Agriculture and Lands take the necessary steps to ensure CAMP be fully implemented, monitoring will continue through 2014 providing a multi-year data set.
