After a brief, two-day commercial sockeye fishery off the North Coast, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has announced an Aboriginal demonstration fishery to run Friday.
The Tsimshian Area 4 gill net fishery is being conducted by the North Coast Skeena First Nations Stewardship Society (NCSFNSS).
It’s a limited entry fishery, with only vessels listed on the licence allowed to participate.
The DFO says the fishery was proposed and reviewed as part of the work to implement updates to the Commercial Salmon Allocation Framework.
Sockeye returns on the Skeena have been better than expected with the current estimate at 1.34 million as of this week, compared with original midpoint estimate of 520,000.
DFO says 800,000 past the Tyee test fishery will be needed to open a recreational sockeye fishery.
