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Baker Lake Sockeye Harvest Imbalances Cause Concern
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Home to one of the most popular fisheries in the Puget Sound region, Baker Lake has become a bright light in an area of dwindling fishing opportunity. Despite the popularity of the fishery, the management of Baker Lake sockeye salmon has become rather controversial. The 2017 season has provided an example of extreme harvest imbalance along with harvest practices based on run forecasts and not actual in-season return data.
CCA Washington, lead by the exemplary members of the North Sound chapter, sent a white paper to WDFW detailing the conservation and management concerns at Baker Lake. Chief among those concerns was the data showing nearly half of the sockeye run being harvested by treaty fishers prior to reaching Baker Lake. The remaining half of the return was split between natural escapement, hatchery requirements and non-tribal harvest. CCA has promoted a conservation buffer for the fishery, mid-season fisheries adjustments to meet actual run abundance, and increased catch sharing and transparency. It is hoped that with improved conservation measures being implemented, the lake will become a shining example of how our fisheries can be more effectively co-managed. |
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Coming Soon: the Most Unique Fishing Derby in the Northwest
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Entering its fifth year, the CCA King of the Reach Live Capture Fishing Derby, scheduled for October 27th-29th, has become known as the most unique fishing derby in the region. Offering exclusive fishing in closed waters for registered derby anglers, the event allows participants the opportunity to fish for the future, while winning great prizes! The goal of the derby is not to catch and kill the largest fish, but rather to collect as many wild Fall Chinook as possible and bring them alive to be used as broodstock at Priest Rapids and Ringold Springs hatcheries. This equates to stronger and healthier hatchery fish stocks for the future.
The program has been extremely successful, with 15% of all hatchery produced Fall Chinook in 2016 having at least one natural origin parent. At the same time, the derby has demonstrated a very low sport angling mortality for the fish with short term rates below 2%!
Last year's event attracted over one hundred participants and we expect a similar field of anglers this year. Registration and fish drop-off stations are located at Vernita and White Bluffs. Registration is just $25 per angler, and aerators to keep the fish alive along with refreshments for participants are provided. While anglers can sign up in-person at the registration stations, it is best to pick up your entry tickets early either online or at Ranch & Home (Kennewick), Sportsman's Warehouse (Kennewick), or Grigg's (Pasco).
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CCA Addresses Columbia River Spring Chinook Management
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As you probably already know, 2017 was the first year that non-tribal gillnets were not permitted during the spring and summer Chinook fisheries on the lower mainstem Columbia River. The commercial community has been lobbying to resume their non-selective gillnet fisheries during the spring season, but new data has weakened their cause. This past year, the non-tribal commercial industry benefitted tremendously well from the off-channel hatchery production in the lower river, which was a key component of the bi-state reforms. In fact, this year the non-tribal commercial fishery landed over 12,000 Chinook from the off-channel areas during the winter/spring season. This harvest exceeded the cumulative recreational spring Chinook harvest both below and above Bonneville Dam, which was about 9,000 Chinook.
This is a critical piece of information - despite having no mainstem spring Chinook tanglenet fisheries this year, the non-tribal commercial sector's harvest exceeded the recreational harvest by 30%. Once again, this is further proof that there is no need for non-selective gillnet fisheries on the lower mainstem Columbia River to sustain the commercial fishing industry. To read more about the Columbia River spring Chinook fishery, including increasing opportunity for recreational angling throughout the lower and upper river, please read the letter that CCA submitted to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission earlier this month.
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Fall Gillnet Days Don't Add Up for Conservation
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Despite a critically low summer steelhead return in 2017, fisheries managers allowed 5 days of gillnet fishing in late August and then authorized an additional 3 days of gillnetting last week on the lower mainstem Columbia River. CCA voiced their concerns to the Columbia River Compact and notified members about the potential fishery with an Action Alert earlier this month. Fortunately, common sense conservation eventually prevailed as fisheries managers cancelled the third day of gillnetting last week due to an alarmingly high interception rate of B-run steelhead.
The decision to allow the nets on the water with limited observation defies common sense management and is contrary to what was promised by the Washington Commission earlier this year. The non-selective gillnet industry was supposed to be intensively monitored during the 2017 Fall season, and while 19-20 boats were monitored (14-15% of the fleet) during the first 5 days of fishing in August, only 10-14 observers were placed aboard boats last week. This weakened monitoring program is especially frustrating considering that the historical peak of threatened B-run steelhead migration occurs while the gillnet fishery is prosecuted. We look forward to a thorough review of the monitoring data and will continue our efforts to rid non-selective gillnets from the lower mainstem Columbia River. |
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Personal Use Salmon
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Earlier this month, WDFW issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to allow commercial salmon fishers - including gillnetters - to keep up to three salmon per fishing day for "personal use." WDFW's current rules require that personal use limits for commercial salmon fisheries match the daily salmon limit for the applicable recreational fishery. For example, if recreational anglers are limited to a daily limit of one Chinook, the same limit would apply to the allowable commercial personal use.
Many recreational anglers have concerns with the current "personal use" rule, especially in fisheries that are so highly regulated by gear type. How is it fair that recreational anglers, in many instances, would be limited to only one fish that must be caught with a barbless hook, while the commercial community would get to keep three times more fish for personal use while fishing with non-selective gear? Instead of continually providing benefits to those who use non-selective gear, our fisheries managers ought to be embracing the conservation, economic and social benefits of those who fish selectively.
If you are concerned about this proposed rule, please send your comments to scott.bird@dfw.wa.gov. |
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2017 FALL BANQUETS & DERBIES
September 29 • Yakima Valley Banquet (Selah)
October 12 • Capitol City Banquet (Olympia)
October 20 • Sno-King Banquet (Woodinville)
October 27-29 • King of the Reach Derby (Tri Cities)
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