The Sockeye salmon return up the Fraser River last fall was nearly half of what it was from the last dominant run in 2014.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans resource management lead for the Fraser and Interior Dean Allan says 10.725 million salmon returned last fall, compared to 19 million four years earlier and 28 million in 2010.

“We have seen a bit of a downward trend for some of the stocks, like in the last 10 years. So we have these very high years like 2010, 2014, and 2018, but the returns overall have been on a bit of a declining trend,” Allan says.

“That being said, the forecast for this year is around the long-term average. So it is quite variable.”

Allan says the final escapement for Sockeye that spawned was 4.05 million. A good portion of those Sockeye were in the Adams River, where Allan says the final escapement was 1.58 million – about 12 per cent lower than what was expected there of 1.8 million.

“It was below what we had predicted, but still that’s not a bad escapement for that system.”

In 2010 there were eight million Sockeye that returned to the Adams River, which was considered a one-in-100 year event.

When asked by NL News, Allan also says there’s no concern from the DFO on over-fishing. He says what is allowed to be fished is constantly evaluated by the Fraser River Panel, which is made up of DFO staff, commercial fishermen and First Nations, as well as federal and state governments and tribe representatives in the U.S.

“In season, we’re actively managing as returns come in and we keep gathering information, we use that information to determine whether or not there’s a harvest-able surplus, and then from there we decide who’s fishing when, where and how. It’s a very active, dynamic process throughout the year.”