Adams River Salmon Society

The rehabilitation of the Fraser River sockeye proved to be the forerunner of an even more ambitious venture - the Canadian Salmonid Enhancement Program (SEP), launched in 1977.

Conducted by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, SEP aims to restore salmon stocks in B.C. rivers to their historic levels of abundance and in so doing increase public awareness and provide jobs and other economic benefits to Native groups and local communities.

Funded at approximately $32 million per year by the federal government, SEP has increased the production of salmon in hatcheries and spawning channels to the point that 650 million salmon fry are now released each year. Some four million of these salmon are caught each year in the commercial, Native and recreational fisheries.

In 1990, as part of the program, DFO built a spawning channel - the Cottonwood Channel - connecting the Lower Adams River with Shuswap Lake. Although the purpose was to enhance production of coho, the channel also produced five million sockeye fry in its first year.

Fraser River sockeye have contributed to the prosperity of Canada's Pacific Coast since before the founding of the Canadian confederation in 1867. The Hudson Bay Company launched the first commercial fishery for sockeye in the 1860s at Steveston, at the mouth of the Fraser. The first of many canneries opened in 1870 and the fishery thrived until the 1913 Hell's Gate disaster.

Today, seafood production is B.C.'s fourth largest industry after mining, forestry and agriculture. Each year, the industry generates an estimated $879 million worth of wholesale value and provides full and part-time employment for about 23,000 people, including fishermen and workers in processing plants. Most of B.C.'s 196 Native bands have a long association with salmon and continue to participate in the fishery, and 400,000 tidal water sport fishing licenses are sold each year.

Over the past 15 years, DFO's enhancement and stock-rebuilding programs have boosted salmon production dramatically. In 1990, over 22 million Fraser River sockeye salmon returned to spawn. Commercial fishermen caught close to 16 million of these fish, their largest catch since 1913. A record three million sockeye, half the Fraser River total, made it to the Adams River to spawn.

The task of fisheries managers is to slice this pie fairly amongst Native, commercial and recreational fisheries. Decisions on catch levels are made on the basis of a careful analysis of scientific data on the strength of the stocks, using advanced techniques of assessment. The goal is to allow enough salmon to escape to the spawning ground to build the runs of the future.

These goals are pursued in the face of increasing environmental pressures. The Fraser Basin is the economic spine of B.C. and the home of two million people - two-thirds of the province's population. The population of the Basin has doubled since the 1960s.

In June 1991, the Fraser River Action Plan (FRAP) - a blueprint for repair of environmental damage and restored productivity in the river basin - was announced as part of the federal government's Green Plan for sustainable development.

The plan is being executed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada in partnership with provincial and municipal governments, First Nations, industries in the Fraser River and groups representing people who live in the Basin.

The long work of rebuilding that began with the Hell's Gate fishways has been expanded over the years through the restoration of habitat, the building of spawning channels, the careful regulation of catches and other management measures. As a result of this patient effort, salmon runs on the Fraser River are returning to the levels that earlier generations enjoyed.

Contact the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for further information on British Columbia salmon rebuilding and conservation programs.