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Sockeye opening on Fraser River will see anglers flocking to Fraser Valley boat launches

‘Current status’ of the Fraser sockeye return allowed for recreational retention, DFO says
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This 2020 file shot is of the Island 22 boat launch in Chilliwack during a bar fishing demonstration, Sept. 9, 2020. (Jennifer Feinberg/ Chilliwack Progress file)

DFO has just authorized a 10-day recreational sockeye opening starting Sept. 9 on the Fraser River.

That means boat launches across the Fraser Valley are about to get exceptionally busy, including Island 22 Regional Park in Chilliwack and the Dewdney boat launch in Maple Ridge.

“The current status of the Fraser River Sockeye salmon return provides for recreational Sockeye retention opportunities in the Fraser River,” according to the fishery notice from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) about the opening, effective Sept. 9 to Sept. 18.

Retention is a daily limit of two sockeye in the non-tidal part of the Fraser from Mission to the Highway 1 bridge at Hope.

There is no retention for chinook, coho, chum or pink salmon.

Federal DFO officials stagger fishery openings on the Fraser using the priority protocol of conservation first, followed by First Nations fisheries, and then commercial, and recreational fishing.

RELATED: 2018 was last sockeye opening

RELATED: Anglers asked to be courteous, get out after bagging limit

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Jennifer Feinberg

About the Author: Jennifer Feinberg

I have been a Chilliwack Progress reporter for 20+ years, covering the arts, city hall, as well as Indigenous, and climate change stories.
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