Further, evidence of density dependence was found for Fraser stocks that was not found in earlier work. Chum escapement patterns and production has varied based on stock. For the overall aggregate production has increased. However, it would appear that not all areas have responded equally. Fraser River chum stocks have shown greater production and increased escapement relative to the other stocks and are driving the aggregate.
Some stocks appear to be decreasing in spite of management and conservation actions.
Specifically, escapement records to Upper Vancouver Island, Kingcome Inlet, Bond and Knight Inlets and Toba Inlet show declines in escapement levels. Factors such as lack of escapement enumeration effort and habitat issues may be responsible for the decline and these need to be explored in greater detail. Increased escapement levels for certain ISC chum stocks may be required to stop marked declines in escapement. Heuristic analysis of the predictive ability of the Mission downstream fry data has shown that although the data correlates with subsequent stock size, it is still too variable to be considered a useful tool for prediction. Six models were tested and analyzed as to their value for in-season stock size estimation.