Steve Johansen hasn’t witnessed a sockeye season so plentiful as this year’s in more than a quarter century. But the fisherman and co-founder of Organic Ocean warns this exceptional run does not mean the salmon fishery’s problems are solved.

This week as he trolled a few kilometres off the coast of West Point Grey, Johansen saw salmon roll and simmer through the salt water, as if pockets of the Strait of Georgia were enormous pots of water heating on a stove.

“Seven miles of solid sockeye—jumping, boiling, finning on the surface of the water,” he said Wednesday morning at Fishermen’s Wharf as he unloaded a catch of 200 salmon caught the previous evening. “I’ve fished all my life and I’ve never seen this.”

He’s not the only one.

This season is the largest sockeye return in almost a century.

On Aug. 24 the Pacific Salmon Commission announced an estimated 25 million sockeye will return to the Fraser River and its tributaries this fall. No larger run has been recorded since 1913.

Johansen, 43, has owned a boat and trolling licence since he was 18 years old and usually seeks sockeye in the waters near Campbell River. Now the 43-year-old Kitsilano resident says, “Fishing three to four miles from my house is bizarre.”

Organic Ocean did not troll for sockeye last year. Less than 1.5 million salmon returned to spawn despite a forecast of 11 million.

Salmon return to fresh water on a four-year cycle, and although 2010 forecasts were higher than previous seasons, this year’s unprecedented run comes as a welcome surprise.

“It’s a great time to make a living,” said Johansen. “But just because this is happening this year does not mean all our problems are solved.”

Since Organic Ocean trolls for salmon using fishing lines and lures instead of gill nets or seines, their quota is averaged over the sockeye season and their vessels can head out at will through the summer.

This differs from what Frank Keitsch describes as the “shotgun fishery,” which operates non-stop over a period of 12 or more hours as determined by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

On Wednesday at noon, the sockeye fishery opened for a continuous 32 hours.

Johansen and Keitsch, also with Organic Ocean, both bragged that their busy but flexible schedule allows them to get a full night’s sleep and start the morning at a relaxed pace with an iced coffee.

But even for the trollers during such a prolific fishery, patience is required. “You do have to pace yourself,” said Keitsch. “Going that hard, you can burn out really quickly.”

Organic Ocean has several licences that each allow a catch of 3,500 sockeye, but the quota is constantly increasing this year as the government attempts to manage the fishery and ensure healthy returns in the future.

Too many spawning salmon in the rivers can lead to something known as over-spawn, explained Keitsch, which can cause smaller runs four years from now when offspring return. Organic Ocean sells directly to over 40 restaurants in Vancouver and ships wild sockeye salmon to 150 more across Canada.

mstewart@vancourier.com