Particle.news
Download on the App Store
6 ARTICLES
·
last mo.

DFO Opens Rare Fraser River Sockeye Fishery With Tight Limits

Officials point to a roughly nine‑million run attributed to habitat restoration, controlled harvest, improved fish passage.

Spawning sockeye salmon are seen making their way up the Adams River in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park near Chase, B.C. Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2014. Optimism has turned to distress over an expected bumper season for wild sockeye salmon returning to British Columbia's Fraser River, after a regulatory body's estimate of the run size dropped by nearly half this week.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
Anglers flock to the Fraser River on Aug. 22, 2025, to participate in a rare recreational sockeye fishery.
Commercial fishermen Neil Kershaw and Mick Ries on the Fraser River as a major and unexpected surge of sockeye salmon has the Department of Fisheries and Oceans opening access that many say is too limited for the amount of fish that is available.

Overview

  • Recreational fishing opened Friday in non‑tidal waters from the Mission bridge to Hope with daily limits of two sockeye and four pinks, daylight‑only hours, no barbed hooks or bait, bycatch avoidance for Chinook, coho and chum, and guidance to respect First Nations food, social and ceremonial fisheries.
  • Reporting differs on the end date, with the DFO notice cited by Global News stating the fishery runs until Sept. 21 or until closed, while earlier coverage described an 11‑day window ending Sept. 1.
  • The Joint Canada–U.S. Pacific Salmon Commission forecast is about 9.6 million Fraser sockeye, characterized as the largest for this cycle line since the late 1990s.
  • Guides and tackle shops report an immediate surge in interest and sales, with local businesses preparing for heavy riverbank traffic in communities such as Chilliwack, Hope and Mission.
  • Commercial fishers and some First Nations argue the rules are too restrictive given the run size, and a retired longtime member of the Fraser Panel resigned over the government’s sockeye management.