Commercial fishermen of Hartley Bay didn’t expect the good run of chum salmon this year in their local waters and so they are netting it for four days last week. Fisheries and Oceans manager Dan Wagner said that things picked up quite good reminiscent of the good days of chum returns. He added that this year a surplus wasn’t forecasted. But it happened. The ministry announced a one-day commercial chum fishery from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday August 8, and after good returns were seen extended it another day, and then two more.
A fish surplus means the local hatchery has caught what it needs to meet it’s spawning quota and river and ocean counts are good. Wagner also said that as the northwest doesn’t have the technology to count fish in the streams like some areas down south, the department of Fisheries and Oceans uses assessment fisheries to calculate returns. He added that it means they are catching chum that are headed toward Kitimat hatchery.
The hatchery needs 700 female chum and 500 male chum to spawn approximately 1.9 million baby salmon, which are released back into the water. Twenty three commercial boats dropped anchors and nets in and around the Kitimat Arm, located about 25 kilometres south of Kitimat, last Monday and Tuesday. By Thursday, some fishermen left and 15 boats continued fishing.
