New Proposed Puget sound salmon closure

[Ridgeratt]

skillet pm sent

[WSU]

It will be interesting to see how this plays out.  The Dept. really stepped in it by not modeling the impacts of their agreement before signing on the dotted line.  You read that right: they did not know what the consequences to fisheries would be prior to signing. 

[Skillet]

Thank you Ridgeratt 

Really interesting article from Tidal Exchange, and I do agree that habitat loss is a major issue.  However, I thought I would throw this out there-

The Unuk river, a trans-boundary river originating in Canadian wilderness and running through the Misty Fjords national monument in Alaska and into Behm canal, has virtually ZERO habitat loss in the entire watershed.  There are no roads in there at all. Think of it like the Mill Creek watershed from ridgetop to ocean.  Yet still it is seeing the same precipitous decline of kings as the Stillaguamish.

The fishing around the Behm canal is off limits to commercials to prevent incidental catch, and is going to seriously impact our king fishing going forward. Sports (charters) are starting to see some tight restrictions as well...

I think it's important to realize that there are other impacts at play, including fishing (sport, commercial, and tribal).  Apex predators (orca and lions), ocean conditions, high seas harvest, etc.  I believe climate change is also a factor. Putting all of the attention on habitat destruction may divert attention from another, more significant cause.

 

[jmscon]

This might have something to do with it-
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blob_(Pacific_Ocean)
Combine that with poor stream conditions for spawning fish (warm, low level waters) all up and down the west coast into Alaska attributes to the recent declines. Longer declines such as the Stillaguamish and other rivers in Washington also have a high rate of habitat loss. Stronger runs to less populated areas of Washington compared to rivers like the Snoqualmie and Sky.

I’ve felt that a break in fishing would help the rivers and I think it will help temporarily but there is no quick fix to all the impermeable surfaces that are in the greater Puget Sound. Newer housing developments have holding ponds for storm water run off but so so many don’t.

[WSU]

My understanding on the Stilli is that the habitat can't really support more fish and closing down fishing in wa would save literally a handful of fish (less than 10). 

It varies obviously from river to river.  I'd be interested to hear where the Unuk River fish are intercepted and in what kind of numbers? 

[Antlershed]

There is a special conference call tomorrow for the Commission to be briefed on the plan. No public input will be taken though.

[jmscon]

I believe there are other thing at play in the salmon decline. 500 million hatchery pinks are flooded into the waters of prince williams sound each year, how do they not compete with food for other salmon in other parts of the North Pacific?! Some of these fish have turned up in the Columbia sooo...?

[JimmyHoffa]

I believe there are other thing at play in the salmon decline. 500 million hatchery pinks are flooded into the waters of prince williams sound each year, how do they not compete with food for other salmon in other parts of the North Pacific?! Some of these fish have turned up in the Columbia sooo...?

The ones that make it out.  Some of the commercial fishermen there have told me that the whales like to hang out not far from the hatchery and feast on all the pinks being released.

[jmscon]

This is from KDLG.org radio program on the 2017 season-
“The forecasted total run of pink salmon to Prince William Sound is about 67 million fish—more than 21 million wild run and the rest from area hatcheries.”

2016 was a dismal year in comparison.

[Skillet]

It varies obviously from river to river.  I'd be interested to hear where the Unuk River fish are intercepted and in what kind of numbers?

The short answer is the ADFG only has a portion of the picture and they truly don't know.  So they are pulling on the only levers they have right now.  Washington is WAY better than Alaska at tracking wild fish, and there are a couple of groups to encourage AK to catch up soon.