Commercial gillnet fishers were back on the Fraser River Tuesday, working a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. shift, catching as many sockeye salmon as they can fit on their boats.
It was the fifth opening of the year for fishers. The fourth opening occurred last week. A sixth opening will happen on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
So far, as of Monday, an estimated 5.3 million fish have passed by Mission. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is now estimating a sockeye summer run of 8 million fish but has yet to offer up an estimate of the late summer run, which is expected to be the biggest.
“Extremely high fractions of Fraser sockeye continue to emigrating via the Johnstone Strait route,” noted a DFO fishery notice on Tuesday.
Water temperatures were 1.8 degrees Celsius above average and the rivers flow was 21 per cent below average.
Various First Nation groups were afforded a 42-hour commercial opening between Friday and Sunday.
