more wdfw river closures.

[datsun]

So I'm on the wdfw announcement spam email list and I saw this roll in yesterday, do they normally close this many rivers every year? This is the first year Ive fished.

ARRRG. Thats Like 4 months of no fishing these. (1/3rd of the year.)

I'm all for saving some wild stealhead. But do we _really_ catch that many incedentally or not? Seems like the reports ive been reading here, and other places have been saying we dont. Seems the steel are wiley and you have to work to catch em.

Sorry bout the rant, Its just frustrating

Effective dates: Feb. 18, through June 4, 2010
Nooksack River to close to fishing
Puyallup River system to close to fishing
Samish River to close to fishing
Stillaguamish River system to close to fishing
Portions of Snohomish River system to close to fishing


Species affected: All game fish species.

[Toni]

The Puyallup and Carbon would have closed on Feb 28. So it is only 10 days early. Yes, this happens frequently. You will have to fish for trout in year round lakes now. Or go to rivers that haven't closed.

[datsun]

Thanks for showing me that, I went back and looked in the regs, I didnt realize they closed that soon. Its definitely not as big a deal as I first thought. Guess it just rubbed me wrong.

Thanks Toni

[SsendaM]

I just read today that the sturgeon quota will be met on the 21st of Feb. between Bonneville and The Dalles and will be closed the 22nd to Washington license holders. Would this apply to Oregon as well?

[Shad_Eating_Grin]

[quote="datsun...Seems the steel are wiley and you have to work to catch em.

...


[/quote"]

It's not that they're wiley, it's instead because there are so few of them in the river.

No fish in river = no fish caught

NOT: no fish caught = fish are wiley or fish are not biting

[ckim85]

It's not that they're wiley, it's instead because there are so few of them in the river.

No fish in river = no fish caught

NOT: no fish caught = fish are wiley or fish are not biting

well said ShadEatingGrin. let the fishery recover and put the steelhead rods down for a bit. not a big deal.

[rseas]

I understand the necessity for the closures. But I hope that with the closure of the recreational sports fisheries on our Puget Sound river systems that there is also a closure and necessary enforcement of the non-recreational fisheries as well. I would assume that the mortality rate incidental to a properly managed catch and release fishery is insignificant when compared to the mortality rate associated with a net fishery.

[salmonslayer117]

I agree with rseas. I wonder if they actually think that the sport fisheries affect the mortality rates of a certain species as much as the drift/gill netters downstream?

[rseas]

I understand the necessity for the closures. But I hope that with the closure of the recreational sports fisheries on our Puget Sound river systems that there is also a closure and necessary enforcement of the non-recreational fisheries as well. I would assume that the mortality rate incidental to a properly managed catch and release fishery is insignificant when compared to the mortality rate associated with a net fishery.

As follow-up to this mornings post, took the dog to Snee-oosh Beach at lunch time today. For those that do not know Snee-oosh is just north of the mouth of the Skagit River, basically off the east end of Hope Island. It is a beautiful pebble beach that is dog friendly. It is also a prime steelhead migration route for steelhead heading to both the Skagit and Stillaguamish systems. While there I watched a gillnetter string ½ mile plus of beach net, the set was pulled from a buoy anchored just off the beach. I find it interesting; "These closures are necessary to meet the conservation objectives of our statewide steelhead management plan and comply with provisions of the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA)." Wild steelhead in the Puget Sound region have been listed as "threatened" under the ESA since 2007.”, yet there is still an active net fishery. Although recreational anglers could be required to release any wild fish caught in the affected rivers, the various recreational fisheries are being closed because “some of the released fish inevitably die from the experience”. Many fish stage in the area and with the low water conditions the 1 set could wipe clean many weeks worth of fish returning to the two river systems.

[ckim85]

I agree with rseas. I wonder if they actually think that the sport fisheries affect the mortality rates of a certain species as much as the drift/gill netters downstream?

we all have our complaints about the netters but that's something WDFW can do nothing about. what they CAN do however is reduce native mortality rate by shutting the rivers down to recreational fishing. As much as I want to go chase around steelhead and springers, i'm glad they're making some moves to improve the puget sound rivers.

I am sure WDFW is well aware of the effects of tribal netting, but they are also aware of the effects of poaching (which occurs often) and the drastic change in mortality rate by harassing much needed spawning natives.

my gripe isn't with shutting down the netting. It's better managing closed waters because you know on any given day, you can find some poacher tucked away behind bushes tossing giant treble hooks and worms, snatching up everything from natives to dolly's.

as for the netting in Skagit, i believe they are not netting for native steelhead. I believe it is for king salmon and spring sockeye. THe gillnets for salmon and steelhead are very much different in size of mesh and selective (to a certain degree).
Mesh size for kings have to be 7 1/4"+ while steelhead mesh are usually around 5".
Yes, there are natives that get caught in the gillnets, but if they are netting for kings, the numbers of native steelhead caught in those gillnets are much fewer. I just read some article about this...i'll post it up if i can find it.

at the end of the day, any action is better than no action. better to shut down sport fishing even if there's minimal benefits to the river system. netting is out of our controls and out of WDFW's control. what we can do is bring up awareness to the public in NOT purchasing wild steelhead in restaraunts and markets as grocery stores and restaurants are buying them from the tribal netters themselves commercially.

no demand = no market for wild steelhead. if you goto Pikes Place Market, they're selling wild steelhead with adipose fin's. All netted from the Hoh and various other OP rivers. I believe the Wild Steelhead Coallition along with lots of fisherman emailed Pikes Place market to bring up awareness of our conditions of steelhead. This kind of action is valuable, instead of complaining about netting.

anyway. fish south, east, or west. the spring king's should be coming in anyway I'm sure everyone here won't be missing the puget sound rivers much with a 20lb king at the end of their line

[salmonslayer117]

Yup, ya got a point there. Just have to head south and find some big ones to make up for it! WDFW has their hands tied over the whole issue from what I've gathered. I only hope that there can be some sort of resolve between the tribes and the state. As for the state shutting down the sport end of it, there's plenty of other opportunities to find fish in our great state. It's not all the rivers closing, just a few.