BC Chinook regs out; looks good for US

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/maps-...cG3-7V43v-lQ7g4

Most Puget Sound Chinook rear in these closed waters. BC Commercial trollers will be shut-down coast-wide til August, so good news for all of our state.

While it may let some more of our fish make it back to our waters, and it will certainly be interesting to see its effect if we can get some good numbers come next fall, I feel terrible for the folks up there that make their livelihood on the rec fishing industry. The offshore closure for much of the summer is going to really make it tough for a lot of good people. And it doesn't look temporary,

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It will be interesting to see what happens to the fish "saved" in BC. I suspect that the driver up there is two-fold. One is to recover Fraser Chinook and the other is to feed SRKWs. If the saved Chinook just get transferred to catch down here, it will prove AK's claim that the arguments over the marine mixed stock fishery are about moving catch around rather than conservation. Be very interesting to see how it all shakes out.

As long as the fish "saved" don't end up in other harvest quotas, this should be a big deal. Were AK's quotas/seasons reduced in kind? If not, this seems to put an unfair burden on the BC commercials, as fishbadger mentioned. Oh, well. As long as this puts more salmon on gravel beds or in orca bellies, it's a big step in the right direction.

The rec's took a big hit in BC as well, all along that migratory corridor. No chinook retention til mid-late July on the highway.

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If we continue to look at allowable harvest as being good for us, we are just delaying the inevitable, IMHO.

It's not about harvesting these additional fish. It's about increased numbers of wild fish spawning; in general BC does not have any "clipped-fish-only" fisheries.

The SEAK troll seasons seem unchanged as to start date & quota.

For the Northern BC trollers although the start date is Aug 20 (about 2 months later than usual) I haven't seen any info on Chinook quota reductions.

FYI, it appears my referenced announcement is for public info only; actual "Fisheries Notices" that provide quota & season details have yet to be released. Also unknown at this point is any SRKW specific closures as this info is advertized as "Fraser River Chinook" measures.

Back in the day most folks waited til about mid August to hit WCVI anyway for the large Stamp river run.

No doubt this will be a huge impact on business; just like our area is not like it was back in the 60's when boathouses/bait shops lined the Sound & Westport had in excess of 100 charter boats.

I am fairly luck in that my mom came from the school of hard knocks, so realizing that life is not fair has come to me at long last.