The Somass sockeye run is about to be shut down.
According to a DFO stock assessment released yesterday, their test boat found only 8,000 sockeye outside 10-mile Point and 5,000 inside, prompting fisheries managers to downgrade the estimated runsize to just 200,000 fish – far below the preseason forecast of 350,000 to 500,000.
Sports fishing for sockeye ends midnight Sunday, and there are no commercial or First Nations fisheries planned.
So far, more than 93,000 sockeye have passed the fish counters towards their spawning grounds, with 66,000 heading towards Sproat Lake, and 26,000 to Great Central.
