Neil Kershaw was out on the Fraser River this week where a major surge in returning sockeye salmon has fishers, retailers, guides, conservation and advocates marvelling at the renewal of opportunity.

But Kershaw and others are miffed that they are not being allowed to harvest more of the many millions of unexpected sockeye.

“We only have a 235 piece quota,” said Kershaw, describing the number of sockeye salmon each commercial licence holder can catch in total.

The last time the Fraser River was open to a commercial fishery like this was six years ago. Back then, there may have been 300 commercial fishing boats on the water, but after years of dwindling sockeye numbers, there are only about 40 of them on the water now, he said.

For each to catch just 235 sockeye is a level of restraint

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