The West Coast's massive salmon fishing party on the Fraser River has come to an end.
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans shut down the commercial fishery from the mouth of the Fraser to Mission at 7 a.m. Tuesday, in order to protect the endangered coho salmon.
The river saw a record sockeye return estimated at 34 million fish, but the coho are only expected to number about 30,000 this year.
Conservative MP John Cummins has called for the fisheries to remain open to commercial fishermen longer.
"This was their time to make a few bucks," he said. "It's a windfall and they should be given every opportunity to fish."
The closure could threaten future salmon runs, he said, and "wastes a valuable resource."
The DFO increased the total allowable catch for commercial fishermen this year by more than 60 per cent to 10.2 million sockeye, from 6.2 million.
An estimated eight to 10 million wild sockeye will continue to swim up the Fraser River when the coho start their overlapping migration to their own spawning grounds.
But the bounty worries some who fear more fish will be caught than processors can handle, or consumers want to buy.
Area director Barry Rosenberger says by the time all sockeye fisheries close this year, fishermen will have reeled in more than 12 million fish of the 34 million run.
With files from The Canadian Press
