B.C. salmon numbers cause for concern

There's growing concern about B.C.'s salmon fishery after initial counts of sockeye reaching their spawning grounds have been dramatically lower than predicted.

In northern B.C. and on the Fraser River the numbers are extremely low.

The first reports show the sockeye numbers at only about 10 per cent of what was expected.

Aboriginal and commercial fishermen say those numbers could lead to a collapse of the Fraser River fishery when the salmon spawned in 2004 return in 2008. But the the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says although the initial numbers are disappointing, predictions of a demise of the fishery are premature.

"The Fraser River sockeye itself is going to be OK. I think that we're not so disastrously low that the stocks themselves will not recover," said DFO spokesman Wayne Saito.

Saito says the temperatures in the Fraser River this summer were the highest they've been since the DFO started keeping records more than 50 years ago. He says the warm water killed many of the fish trying to reach spawning grounds.

But, Phil Eidsvik of the B.C. Fisheries Survival Coalition points the finger at the DFO for the low returns.

"I'm sure if DFO wasn't blaming warm water they'd be blaming the rays of the moon and the wrong colour. Any excuse other than accept responsibility for abysmal enforcement and out of control poaching," said Eidsvik.

Saito says the DFO will have a better idea of the status of sockeye returns in January when the counts of all the returns have been finalized.