2025 Port Alberni and Alberni Inlet Reports

Fished three days over Canada Day and three days last weekend while camping at Macktush. Fish were there and biting… but barely. Maybe it’ll pick up but so far is very slow.
 
A bunch of us locals keep in touch.
Let's just say that the overall trend so far this year is SLOW fishing.
Hoping that changes tomorrow morning!
It won't change until they get the seines out off the canal. They don't even have their escapement yet. They put the seines in the " Seine free zone" yesterday. Then in 4 years DFO will blame ocean survival rates not their own mismanagement of a public resource which all sectors should have access to.
 
It won't change until they get the seines out off the canal. They don't even have their escapement yet. They put the seines in the " Seine free zone" yesterday. Then in 4 years DFO will blame ocean survival rates not their own mismanagement of a public resource which all sectors should have access to.
I keep seeing Instagram posts about how amazing the returns are.
 
The Barkley Sound Roundtable met this afternoon.
The total sockeye run size has been decreased from 850,000 down to 800,000, due to escapement slowing down dramatically as fish stop entering the river.
The desired overall harvest rate has been further reduced, from 37 percent down to 33 percent, to try and protect the Sproat Lake sockeye, who have been entering the system at a ratio of only 17 percent, versus 83 percent Great Central fish.
This downgrade of total run size, plus a reduction of the desired harvest rate, means that all commercial sectors are now over their allocation, and there will be no fishing this week, by any commercial group.
The only way to fix this problem is have more fish enter the river system, and have more of that new fish be Sproat Lake fish.
We know there are lots of fish in the canal, our fishery proves that. Now we just need to wait and hope they move into the river in time for next weeks meeting.
 
The Barkley Sound Roundtable met this afternoon.
The total sockeye run size has been decreased from 850,000 down to 800,000, due to escapement slowing down dramatically as fish stop entering the river.
The desired overall harvest rate has been further reduced, from 37 percent down to 33 percent, to try and protect the Sproat Lake sockeye, who have been entering the system at a ratio of only 17 percent, versus 83 percent Great Central fish.
This downgrade of total run size, plus a reduction of the desired harvest rate, means that all commercial sectors are now over their allocation, and there will be no fishing this week, by any commercial group.
The only way to fix this problem is have more fish enter the river system, and have more of that new fish be Sproat Lake fish.
We know there are lots of fish in the canal, our fishery proves that. Now we just need to wait and hope they move into the river in time for next weeks meeting.
Let's hope they keep those nets out of the water for the rest of the season. They are over their allocation for this run size. The Sprout escapement is extremely low and those nets should not have been put in the water until it was very clear the required escapement would be achieved. We are now past the peak of the run. Be ready for no sockeye fishing in 2029 and the powers to be will blame it on ocean survival!
 
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