Fraser River salmon fishery could fail in 2008

A new report says spawning levels were so low in 2004 that the commercial, recreational and aboriginal sockeye salmon fisheries on British Columbia's Fraser River could be wiped out in 2008.

The report released Tuesday by the Commons fisheries committee blames a failure by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to crack down on sockeye poaching in the region and implement previous recommendations designed to save the stock, as well as unusually warm water temperatures in 2004.

The result could be extremely low levels of adult salmon ready for harvesting three years from now and the cancellation of all fisheries for that year.

There's no way to tell how succeeding years will be affected until 2005 spawning levels are measured.

"The standing committee did a report in 2001, which was tabled in 2003, making pointed recommendations that would have solved some of the problems that we are facing today. The [former House of Commons Speaker John] Fraser report did the same thing," said Conservative committee member Loyola Hearn, who is also the party's fisheries critic.

"Both reports were completely and utterly ignored by government. What we need for the long-term is to get to the root of what caused the problems in 1992, 1994 and again this year."

Tom Wappel, the committee's Liberal chairman, was also critical of the federal fisheries department's efforts.

"We believe that if DFO had implemented the recommendations of previous inquiries, including those of the committee's 2003 report on the management of the 2001 fishery, the likelihood of the problems faced in 2004 would have been greatly lessened if not avoided entirely," he said in a news release.

The report makes 12 recommendations, including prohibiting the use of gillnets on parts of the Fraser, as well as increasing the enforcement of fisheries regulations on the lower Fraser.

The report says an "unreported and unauthorized sockeye harvest is believed to have greatly contributed to the 2004 disaster."

The committee says the fear of confrontation with First Nations groups led in part to the poor enforcement of regulations.

The report also cites record high temperatures in the river as a cause for the drop in numbers.

The committee says sockeye runs are unlikely to build back up to last year's levels before 2020.