Pacific Salmon Commission Raises Forecast for B.C. Fraser River Pink Salmon Run
August 30, 2023 | 1 min to read
Pink salmon returns to B.C.’s Fraser River are surpassing forecasts, leading some Indigenous leaders and environmentalists to link this surge to the closure of open-net salmon farms near Vancouver Island. The Pacific Salmon Commission revised its projections to a potential 11.6 million returns this summer, significantly higher than the initial estimate of 6.1 to 8.6 million. This increase is attributed to data from marine test fisheries along the B.C. coast.
Pink salmon returns to B.C.’s Fraser River are exceeding original forecasts, prompting some Indigenous leaders and environmentalists to suggest there’s a link between the increase and the closure of open-net salmon farms off Vancouver Island.
The Pacific Salmon Commission said it is increasing its projections of pink salmon returns this summer to a possible high of 11.6 million, up from an estimate of between 6.1 million and 8.6 million fish.
The commission, which was formed by the governments of Canada and the United States in 1985 to implement the Pacific Salmon Treaty, said on its website the increase is based on the numbers of pink salmon being caught in marine test fisheries in B.C. coastal waters.
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