Chinook Fishery Approved

By David Wiwchar PORT ALBERNI — As the sockeye fishery begins to wind down, all eyes will soon turn towards the big chinook salmon.

According to DFO estimates, only 43,000 Somass River chinook are forecast to return to Barkley Sound and Alberni Inlet this year.

Thirty-three thousand, eight hundred spawners are required to meet the 57.2 million-egg target for the system, so 9,000 Somass chinook are available for harvest.

The recreational fishery will receive a quota of 7,000 chinook, and First Nations will get a quota of 2,000.

That's good news for the Port Alberni Salmon Festival, which  was concerned about being forced to fish only coho for the second time in their history.

The mostly four to five-year-old chinook are starting to show up in the inlet now and will run up the Somass River well into October.