The Collapse Continues - Fraser River Sockeye Run Lowest Ever - 86% Below Projections

VANCOUVER — Sockeye salmon are expected to return to the Fraser River in record-low numbers this season due to an unknown threat in the ocean, experts say. When the last of the sockeye return late this month, 1.37 million are expected to have made the three-month journey — 86-per-cent less than the 10.5 million projected.

That’s the lowest sockeye run since 1952, when record-keeping similar to today’s first began, said Mike Lapointe, chief biologist for the Pacific Salmon Commission.

“If you look at the records we’re setting here, this is like a one-in-hundred-year flood,” Lapointe said. The low sockeye population follows the fourth-lowest run last year and the second-lowest run in 2007, Lapointe said.

The commission, a Canadian-U.S. organization formed under the Pacific Salmon Treaty, seeks to conserve salmon and divide the harvests between the two countries. Harvesting sockeyes has been banned since late June, he said.

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http://www.vancouversun.com/Record%20sockeye%20return%20expected%20Fraser%20River/1956497/story.html