Nass salmon fishery

The fish wheels are highly effective and catch anywhere between 5-20% of the salmon run of which a portion of the sockeye, chinook and coho are tagged for population estimation and in-season management adjustments. [...] The mark-recapture program uses two fish wheels in the lower Nass canyon to apply the tags and two wheels in the upper canyon for recovery. [...] The most productive coho areas in the Nass include the largest tributaries, namely Iknouk and 13 Ishkeemickh Rivers in the Lower Nass, and Bell-Irving, Bowser, Cranberry, Kiteem, Kwinageese, Meziadin and White rivers in the Upper Nass. [...] This includes the need for more rigorous evaluation of the status of smaller sockeye stocks and the need to reverse the declines in chum salmon populations. [...] Much of the fishing effort that harvests Nass sockeye is directed at the concurrent migration of the more abundant Skeena River sockeye, making it challenging to fine-tune the harvest of Nass sockeye in the mixed stock fishery.