Federal Judge Upholds Harvest of Puget Sound Chinook

[shawn]

Here is the link.http://kitsapsun.com/news/2008/mar/21/f ... get-sound/

[Dave]

Thanks for the article Shawn. I love to harvest salmon but honestly, I am all for closing the Chinook salmon seasons for everyone in WA all together for the next couple years or for how ever long it takes to get the numbers back up. I'm happy to fish for the abundant numbers of pinks that return to pudet Sound every other year and silvers if their numbers are up and healthy, and have no problem leaving the Chinook alone. If that were to happen I would hope to see the State make possession of any Chinook, wild or otherwise, a class C Felony. That may sound extreme to some but sometimes that’s what it takes to keep the public from taking a chance and in this case keeping one of these fish. Just my thoughts. Good post and thanks for the information.

[Fish Antics]

Sounds like California is looking at closing the salmon season down this year. It will be interesting to see what Canada does with it's harvest, since they intercept so many Washington origin fish.

Either way, chinook will stay in the news, whether it's about Sea Lions gorging at the dams or struggling stocks.

Like Dave, I think we are all receptive to doing our part in maintaining the species.

[shawn]

I'm with you Dave shut it down if need be.I was watching some show on the discovery channel,about salmon fishing in Alaska it was a combo topic about commercial fishing and sport fishing.I like what they do up there if there isn't enough salmon going past the counter which they use a kind of radar to count the salmon.The fish and wildlife just shut the fishery down all together.For commercial and sport and not to tribal also.They have the thinking we need to have.Not enough fish coming through to keep the run healthy then no one gets them until more than enough come through.They said they have closed entire fisheries for a couple of years if need be.Maybe our fish and wildlife should took a look at that system and see if that could work for us also.

[JT26]

i have no problem with closing the chinook fishery for a season or two. Let them get higher numbers.
I think that the nets are more of a problem then recreational fisherman though.

[A9]

A year or two would only help the numbers of two years of runs JT26. We would need a few more years tehn that to have any significant impact.

Nets, dams, sport fishers, commercial fishers, sea lions, loss of rivers/river habitat, poor ocean conditions, are all contributing to the loss of our salmon stocks.

[AdsBot [Google]]

i have no problem with closing the chinook fishery for a season or two. Let them get higher numbers.
I think that the nets are more of a problem then recreational fisherman though.

Why do you think closing the chinook fishery in Puget Sound will change anything? There are to many seals because of a "judge" and, there are to many nets because of a "judge". I think we should keep judges out of our fishery and allow our fish managers the right to manage. Allow them to make those decisions that will ensure future generations an opportunity to catch those fish we hold so dear.

[A9]

i have no problem with closing the chinook fishery for a season or two. Let them get higher numbers.
I think that the nets are more of a problem then recreational fisherman though.

Why do you think closing the chinook fishery in Puget Sound will change anything? There are to many seals because of a "judge" and, there are to many nets because of a "judge". I think we should keep judges out of our fishery and allow our fish managers the right to manage. Allow them to make those decisions that will ensure future generations an opportunity to catch those fish we hold so dear.

Good call stampie. I like reading your posts...Keep em up...

[Smalma]

For many of the listed Chinook stocks in Puget Sound closing all Washington waters to salmon fishing (and yes any closure in marine areas would have to be for all species) will not result in recovery of the populations to the point that they would be de-listed.

Bottom line is that many of those populations are being limited by lack of habitat. We have destroyed much of the capacity and productivity of our river systems to the point that they can no long support the fish needed for recovery.

Unless we as a society get serious about protecting and restoring salmon habitat we could close salmon fishing for the rest of our lives and still not have recovered wild Puget Sound Chinook populations.

Tight lines
Curt

[Derrick-k]

For many of the listed Chinook stocks in Puget Sound closing all Washington waters to salmon fishing (and yes any closure in marine areas would have to be for all species) will not result in recovery of the populations to the point that they would be de-listed.

Bottom line is that many of those populations are being limited by lack of habitat. We have destroyed much of the capacity and productivity of our river systems to the point that they can no long support the fish needed for recovery.

Unless we as a society get serious about protecting and restoring salmon habitat we could close salmon fishing for the rest of our lives and still not have recovered wild Puget Sound Chinook populations.

Tight lines
Curt

Not just stopping the sports fishery but stopping the commercial and tribal fishing as well.

[Smalma]

Derrick -
I was assuming that Dave and the others were talking about all fishing -recreational, non-treaty commerical and tribal. Aftert assessing the habitat in the various Puget Sound basins it was clear to the folks working on salmon recovery that even with no fishing for decades that populations would not recovery without substantial improvements in habitat. Just a couple of examples.

The North Fork Nooksack Chinook escapement has been boost through the use of native brood stock yet those spawner can not replace themselves. It seems that no matter how many spawners there are (in some cases more than 3,000) the river can only produce considerably less than 1,000 wild adults with no fishing. It has not been uncommon to see less than 0.25 adult produced per spawners.

A similar situation has been noted on the North Fork Stillaguamish. Again less than 1 potnetial wild adult spawner is being produced by natural spawner. I think it would be obvious to most that if we get less than a fish back per spawner without fishing the population is in trouble and something more than ending fishing will be needed.

What a lot of folks don't seem to realize that here in Puget Sound the non-treaty commerical fishery is not a major source of mortality for the ESA listed Puget Sound Chinook. The only non-treaty commerical fishery that targets Chinook is in Samish bay and those fish are not listed. Often on the most critical stocks it is the recreational fishery that is the source of the largest mortality in Washington fisheries.

Just an example - those that have been following the North of Falcon (NOF) salmon season setting process have been hearing that the Stillaguamish Chinook is the stock that is limiting most fisheries in the marine protion of Puget Sound. For that stock the various recreational fisheries kills (mostly in hooking mortality) approximately 10 times as many fish as the non-treatycommerical fishreies and half again as many as the tribal fisheries.

Tight lines
Curt

[AdsBot [Google]]

After reading all the posts on this thread and others quite similar it is obvious that all of us share a passion for the sport that we so dearly cherish. We collectively have expressed our concerns about the health of some of our natural occurring fish runs and have pointed to certain factors that are contributing to their decline. Although we may disagree as to the major contributing factors, we all agree that we are on the verge of losing some of our native stocks. All of us know that it is a combination of factors from over harvesting by the world community and pollution from our farms, our factories and our way of life. Other contributing factors include the decline in habitat caused by poor logging practices, dams, and environmental factors occurring naturally. Although it seems overwhelming, we as a group can move mountains and insure that future generation will be able to experience our passion and our thrills. Become actively involved with local fishing organizations and be part of the solution.

[Fish Antics]

I am not trying to disappoint anyone as we sharpen our hooks to get ready fro the next season, but I think one of the underlying problems with salmon management stems from our somewhat flawed resource philosophy. We have historically looked at resources from a perspective of how many can be harvested. We try to target the sustainable level that we can harvest without collapsing the system. We used that same approach as we completely decimated fish populations on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Sorry, no more cod! Unbelievable! There were seemingly inexhaustible numbers. Mind-boggling!

When we moved westward, across this country, we applied that same harvest philosophy to the then abundant salmon stocks. At the time we didn’t realize that we didn’t have the precision to predict maximum sustainable harvest rates. Still don’t. We can list all of the impacting problems for salmon but they are hard to put in a mathematical formula.

Notice that we all know (or should know) what the personal limits are for the fish we catch, yet who of us is familiar with the number of fish it takes to seed and maintain our favorite watersheds? We rely on those harvest management formulas that have so far pretty much failed many Chinook stocks. I love to fish for kings but I can see that, one day, in my opinion, the formula may drive us to where we may have no choice but to make major concessions, including widespread closures, to maintain the species. Ask any fishermen in the past, and they would not have believed we would be where we are today, either!!! I wish there was better news.