North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission

Technical Report 23

Table of Contents

Why There Were Exceptional Recreational Coho Salmon Catches in the Strait of Georgia in 2023

Authors:
Chrys M. Neville and Richard J. Beamish

Abstract:
The Strait of Georgia is a large inland sea between coastal British Columbia and Vancouver Island. Historically, it supported a large recreational and commercial fishery for coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and it was believed that the limiting factor for getting even higher catches was the number of juveniles entering the ocean. However, in the 1990s there were dramatic declines in escapement and by the end of the decade the coho salmon fisheries in southern British Columbia were closed. It is now known that changes in productivity were related to a combination of declining marine survival and changes in winter distribution of the sub-adults (fish that had spent one winter at sea). In this paper we examine a more recent change in the winter and early summer distribution of age 1+ coho salmon that has resulted in exceptional fishing in the Strait of Georgia in 2023 with similar opportunities expected in 2024. We provide a hypothesis for what is regulating the distribution of these fish and suggest that these results support the hypothesis presented by Beamish and Neville (2021) that there is a carrying capacity for juveniles in the strait and that these periods can change rapidly.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr23/666-hgf

Citation

Neville, C.M., and R.J. Beamish.  2024.  Why there were exceptional recreational coho salmon catches in the Strait of Georgia in 2023.  N. Pac. Anadr. Fish Comm. Tech. Rep. 23: 16–20.  https://doi.org/10.23849/npafctr23/666-hgf