Anglers will be making a beeline for the boat launches and gravel bars of the lower Fraser River by Friday (Aug. 22) to catch their daily limit of prized sockeye salmon.
The surprisingly huge returns of Fraser sockeye salmon in 2025 have yielded a rare recreational fishery opening from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in the non-tidal areas of the river from the Mission bridge upstream to Hope.
The last time there was a recreational sockeye opening on the Fraser was on Sept. 9, 2022.
Retention is two sockeye per day, Aug. 22 to Sept. 1, according to the from Fisheries and Oceans, Aug. 19, as well as four pink salmon per day.
Dean Werk, president of the Fraser Valley Salmon Society, is finding the limitations of the openings a tad bittersweet given the missed potential.
"It鈥檚 nice to see Fisheries and Oceans Canada open the Fraser River and tributaries to sockeye and pink retention for anglers and communities," Werk said.
"It is a bit saddening that our advice was not taken to allow four sockeye per angler per day based on the mass run estimated over 10 million 鈥� especially due to short 10-day opening.
"Giving families and anglers a chance to harvest quality salmon is not only wanted but should be considered."
However the fact that the pink fishery will remain open until the steelhead fishery closes will also be "good for anglers travelling here to enjoy fishing," Werk added.
"This opening could boost the local economies by 10 to 20 million dollars and that needs to be celebrated."
Werk said he believes the exodus of fish farms had an impact.
"Seeing these salmon runs exceeding estimated pre-season numbers by four and five times is truly a reflection of the hard work we have done to remove fish farms on the approach to the Fraser River," Werk pointed out.
"We are seeing the best salmon runs in the past three years, and better than we have seen in 25 years, so we heartily applaud this."
The DFO rules make it clear there is "no fishing for chinook, coho, or chum salmon," and they can't use bait when salmon fishing, during daylight hours only.
"Anglers fishing for salmon in the Fraser River are required to take every measure possible to ensure that their fishing activities avoid impacts on non-target stocks," said the DFO notice."This means that anglers are requested to use angling methods that do not catch non-target stocks.
First Nations have food, social and ceremonial fisheries ongoing, so anglers are encouraged "to minimize or eliminate any gear conflict" in this area.
