‘Best season in my lifetime’: B.C. salmon returns strong, Indigenous fisherman says
The summer of 2022 is shaping up to be a bumper season for both pink and sockeye
“We targeted those farms,” said Chamberlin, whose group wants open-net farms removed from B.C.’s waters. “Test fisheries currently indicate that Skeena sockeye returns are tracking at the upper end of the forecast, with an in-season estimate of approximately four million sockeye,” said Sloan in a statement. “Sockeye populations returning to a number of areas in British Columbia, Washington and Alaska are returning better than forecast in 2022.”The five-year average return of sockeye to the Skeena is 1.4 million and the 10-year average is 1.7 million, Sloan said.
That is well above the estimated 2.5 million sockeye returns in 2021, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada data.The strong returns come amid debate over the future of open-net salmon farming in B.C. waters.