DFO wants your Salmon heads

Sport fishermen across the Northwest are being asked to submit Salmon heads to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Salmon Head Recovery program, a process which allows DFO to assess the health of salmon stocks in waters of the North Coast, Haida Gwaii as well as freshwater locations further inland.

However, DFO are only looking for specific salmon heads, those which feature a missing adipose fin located on the dorsal surface of the salmon, which contain a  coded wire tag, about 1mm in size that is laser etched with a unique number.

Those coded wire tags found in Coho and Chinook salmon allow for Canada to fulfill obligations for International Pacific Salmon Treaty initiatives as well as for information review for DFO in such areas as salmon abundance, distribution and survival, trends for planning for the next salmon season and for run timing in salt and fresh water areas.

On the North Coast, sports fishermen can deliver their salmon heads to the follow locations.

Port Edward --  Maverick Foods
Prince Rupert -- Bob's on the Rocks
Prince Rupert -- DFO main office 2nd Avenue West
Prince Rupert -- Dolly's Fish Market
Prince Rupert -- J and E Tackle
Prince Rupert -- J. O. Thomas and Associates
Prince Rupert -- Trayling's Tackle shop


The wider list for the Northwest and Haida Gwaii can be found here.

More background on the Salmon Sport Head Recovery program can be reviewed here.

More items related to fishing industry issues can be found from our archive page.