According to the information large numbers of sockeye salmon have disappeared mysteriously from a river on Canada’s Pacific Coast, Fraser. This river is said to known as the world’s most fertile spawning ground for sockeye. A week ago scientists have predicted that nearly 10.6 million bright-red sockeye salmon were expected to return to spawn this summer on the Fraser River, which empties into the Pacific ocean near Vancouver, British Columbia. But the figure showed that fewer than one million have returned.
Acting on the serious issue the Canadian Government has closed the river to commercial and recreational sockeye fishing for the third straight year, hitting the livelihood of nearby Indian reserves. Stan Proboszcz, fisheries biologist at the Watershed Watch Salmon Society, said that it is not clear what exactly happened to these fish. He also said that salmon are born in fresh water before migrating to oceans to feed. They return as adults to the same rivers to spawn.
The mysterious disappearance of the sockeye salmon has raised many questions and several theories have been put forward to this. Bu the real reason for such disappearance has been know to the Canadian Government. Jeff Grout, regional resource manager of salmon for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, informed that it is to early to get to a conclusion about how widespread salmon losses are in the Pacific salmon fishery, but British Columbia’s northern Skeena River has also seen lower-than-expected returns this year.
