Commercial Salmon
Albion Test Fishery - Chinook
Gill Net
The following
reports are available:
Description
The Albion Chinook test fishery
has operated since 1981 on the lower Fraser River at Albion
(near Fort Langley). The test fishery is conducted with a drifted
gill net at a specific site near the old Albion ferry crossing.
The fishery begins in early April of each year, and fishes until
mid-October. On each day of operation, the boat fishes two sets,
timed to coincide with the daily high tide.
The Chinook test fishery normally
fishes every day from April 1st through August 31st. During
this period, the test boat uses two different nets which fish
on alternating days: the "standard" Chinook net, which
is constructed using eight-inch mesh; and a "multi-panel"
net, which consists of panels of six, seven, eight, and nine
inch mesh. The purpose of the multi-panel net is to ensure representative
sampling of Chinook passing through the lower Fraser River,
due to the wide range of body sizes observed in Fraser River
Chinook stocks. Use of the multi-panel net began in 1997 - prior
to that, the test fishery operated with the eight-inch mesh
net only.
From September 1st through October
20th, the Albion Chinook test fishery fishes every other day,
alternating days with the chum test fishery (which fishes a
6.75 inch mesh gill net). Throughout this period, the Chinook
test fishery uses the eight-inch mesh net exclusively.
Both gill nets used in the Albion
Chinook test fishery are 200 fathoms long.
Since its inception in 1981, the
Albion test fishery has been conducted by the fishing vessel
"Witch Doctor".
Contact
Please contact
Fisheries and Oceans at 604-666-4819 if you require additional
information about this test fishery.
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