Just yesterday I heard the well worn argument by an opponent of environmental protections saying in a public meeting that the record return of BC Sockeye in 2010 was proof that scientists didn’t know what they were talking about. Well, it was a short lived record year.
British Columbia’s lucrative commercial and recreational sockeye salmon fishery is not likely to open this year, as Fisheries and Oceans Canada says there are simply not enough fish coming back.
Although there has been enough returning fish to fill the spawning grounds and open an aboriginal fishery, numbers have actually started to decrease.
In order for a commercial fishery to operate, the number of summer run sockeye salmon would have had to be roughly double last week’s count.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/08/15/bc-sockeye-salmon-fishery.html