Originally Posted By: wsu
So, does that mean AK and CA laid off the fish a bit?


SEAK has total Chinook closures to protect inside waters (their own fish). The outside waters are open as usual under the Pacific Salmon Treaty rules for the AABM )Aggregate Abundance Based Management) fishery.

I hear CA will not announce their regs until June; their Northern BC AABM fishery typically opens around June 20th. Many areas of southern Vancouver Island (Victoria/Sooke) are looking at a total fishing closure to protect the Southern Resident Killers Whales; the thinking is that the sonar pings for fishing boats can interfere with the whales pings, so no fishing for anything. They are also protecting Fraser river Chinook runs.
Check this out:
http://wildfishconservancy.org/images/news/CaughtFarFromHome2011journalchart.jpg

Most Puget Sound fish are caught in southern BC; that's about as far north as most of them migrate, so restrictions in Southern BC SHOULD really help our fish. These areas probably catch 150-200K Chinook per year.

Also note that of all Chinook caught in SEAK, only 3% originate from their rivers.