High Time
Crew Member
SOMASS SOCKEYE BULLETIN # 4 – 2025 Date: June 26, 2025
For more information please contact the DFO office in Port Alberni at 250-720-4440
Somass Sockeye Stock Assessment Update
Pre-season forecast:
Somass (Great Central & Sproat): Moderate (500,000-700,000) Henderson: Low (15,000 – 25,000)
Somass in-season re-forecast: 750,000
Escapement to June 24: Stamp: 106,968 Sproat: 24,495
Test Fishery: Seine vessel Nita Maria operated June 22 – 23
Abundance estimate: 24,000 outside Ten Mile Point & 16,000 inside
Catch Estimate: ~ 117,284
Somass First Nations – 50,959 Maa-nulth First Nations – 9,040
Area D Gillnet – 34,926 Area B Seine – 12,572
Recreational – 5,504 Test boat – 4,283
Weekly Fishing Plans:
All fishing plans are subject to change.
First Nations
Tsu-ma-uss (Hupacasath & Tseshaht) – FSC hook & line open 7 days a week. Paper Mill Dam (PMD) pool closed to
hook & line. Tseshaht EO community drag seine open from 5am to 12pm Friday June 27 and possible openings
Saturday and Sunday June 28 and 29 at PMD pool. Hupacasath limited fleet EO community gillnet fishery open from
7am to 4pm Friday June 27 and possible openings Saturday and Sunday June 28 and 29 from PMD to Ten Mile
Point.
Maa-nulth – Open 7 days a week for hook & line and gillnet fisheries within the Southern Maa-nulth Domestic Fishing
Area (MDFA) (Barkley Sound to Sproat Narrows). The harvest plan includes the contracting of designated Area D
Gillnet vessels displaying green Maa-nulth identification flags to harvest salmon within the MDFA, which includes
fishing areas normally restricted to commercial gillnet vessels, including Uchucklesit Inlet, Rainy Bay, San Mateo Bay
and Numukamis Bay.
Commercial
Area D Gillnet – Opening 8pm Tuesday July 1 to 6am Wednesday July 2 from Polly Point to the Pocahontas line and
from 6am to 12pm Wednesday July 2 from Hocking Point to the Pocahontas line.
Area B Seine – Current opening extended until 10pm Sunday June 29 for one vessel to catch their remaining TAC.
Opening daily from 10am to 10pm Monday and Tuesday June 30 and July 1 and 6am to 10pm Wednesday July 2,
with the possibility of extension. Boundaries from Bilton Point / Coleman Creek to Polly Point with a “seine free zone”
closed area near China Creek (Dunsmuir to Hocking Point) in effect 6am to 2pm daily.
Recreational
Tidal opened on May 1. The daily catch limit is four from Alberni Harbour to the A23 surf line (Cape Beale to
Amphitrite Point) and two in the tidal portions of the Somass River. San Mateo and the entrance to Alberni Inlet going
to Sockeye non-retention and finfish closure around Uchucklesit Inlet from Bilton / Coleman Creek to Chup Point /
Hissin Point to come into effect June 30. See FN0385: RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Sockeye - Barkley Sound, Alberni
Inlet, and the tidal portion of the Somass River - Area 23 - Opening
***Attention recreational boaters: To aid in navigation and avoid collisions with Area D gillnets, gillnet ends not attached
to a vessel will be marked with orange floats; there will also be four large white or yellow buoy’s spaced equidistantly
along the cork line. Please slow down when transiting near active fishing vessels.***
Freshwater open from May 1 to July 23 in a portion of the Somass River at Somass Park. Catch limit is one Sockeye
per day. See FN0386: RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Sockeye - Portion of the Somass River at Somass Park - Region 1
- Opening
Fishing plans are developed to minimize disruptions across the various fisheries. Please be respectful of all
groups while participating in the fishery.
For more information please contact the DFO office in Port Alberni at 250-720-4440
Somass Sockeye Stock Assessment Update
Pre-season forecast:
Somass (Great Central & Sproat): Moderate (500,000-700,000) Henderson: Low (15,000 – 25,000)
Somass in-season re-forecast: 750,000
Escapement to June 24: Stamp: 106,968 Sproat: 24,495
Test Fishery: Seine vessel Nita Maria operated June 22 – 23
Abundance estimate: 24,000 outside Ten Mile Point & 16,000 inside
Catch Estimate: ~ 117,284
Somass First Nations – 50,959 Maa-nulth First Nations – 9,040
Area D Gillnet – 34,926 Area B Seine – 12,572
Recreational – 5,504 Test boat – 4,283
Weekly Fishing Plans:
All fishing plans are subject to change.
First Nations
Tsu-ma-uss (Hupacasath & Tseshaht) – FSC hook & line open 7 days a week. Paper Mill Dam (PMD) pool closed to
hook & line. Tseshaht EO community drag seine open from 5am to 12pm Friday June 27 and possible openings
Saturday and Sunday June 28 and 29 at PMD pool. Hupacasath limited fleet EO community gillnet fishery open from
7am to 4pm Friday June 27 and possible openings Saturday and Sunday June 28 and 29 from PMD to Ten Mile
Point.
Maa-nulth – Open 7 days a week for hook & line and gillnet fisheries within the Southern Maa-nulth Domestic Fishing
Area (MDFA) (Barkley Sound to Sproat Narrows). The harvest plan includes the contracting of designated Area D
Gillnet vessels displaying green Maa-nulth identification flags to harvest salmon within the MDFA, which includes
fishing areas normally restricted to commercial gillnet vessels, including Uchucklesit Inlet, Rainy Bay, San Mateo Bay
and Numukamis Bay.
Commercial
Area D Gillnet – Opening 8pm Tuesday July 1 to 6am Wednesday July 2 from Polly Point to the Pocahontas line and
from 6am to 12pm Wednesday July 2 from Hocking Point to the Pocahontas line.
Area B Seine – Current opening extended until 10pm Sunday June 29 for one vessel to catch their remaining TAC.
Opening daily from 10am to 10pm Monday and Tuesday June 30 and July 1 and 6am to 10pm Wednesday July 2,
with the possibility of extension. Boundaries from Bilton Point / Coleman Creek to Polly Point with a “seine free zone”
closed area near China Creek (Dunsmuir to Hocking Point) in effect 6am to 2pm daily.
Recreational
Tidal opened on May 1. The daily catch limit is four from Alberni Harbour to the A23 surf line (Cape Beale to
Amphitrite Point) and two in the tidal portions of the Somass River. San Mateo and the entrance to Alberni Inlet going
to Sockeye non-retention and finfish closure around Uchucklesit Inlet from Bilton / Coleman Creek to Chup Point /
Hissin Point to come into effect June 30. See FN0385: RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Sockeye - Barkley Sound, Alberni
Inlet, and the tidal portion of the Somass River - Area 23 - Opening
***Attention recreational boaters: To aid in navigation and avoid collisions with Area D gillnets, gillnet ends not attached
to a vessel will be marked with orange floats; there will also be four large white or yellow buoy’s spaced equidistantly
along the cork line. Please slow down when transiting near active fishing vessels.***
Freshwater open from May 1 to July 23 in a portion of the Somass River at Somass Park. Catch limit is one Sockeye
per day. See FN0386: RECREATIONAL - Salmon - Sockeye - Portion of the Somass River at Somass Park - Region 1
- Opening
Fishing plans are developed to minimize disruptions across the various fisheries. Please be respectful of all
groups while participating in the fishery.
