A steady drop in federal monitoring has created the worst data gap for Pacific salmon stocks in 70 years — a growing blind spot at least partly linked to the priorities of commercial fisheries, a new study has found.

The research, published in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, found nearly two-thirds of the salmon stocks that were historically monitored in B.C. and the Yukon have had no reported estimates between 2014 and 2023 — making it the worst decade of scientific monitoring since large-scale surveys began in the 1950s.

Fraser sockeye was found to be the only population that has seen increased monitoring over the 10-year period. Emma Atkinson, a PhD researcher at the University of Alberta who led the study, said for three of five Pacific salmon species (coho, c

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