20-21 salmon seasons

[bassquatch]

See how they conveniently left the 'public health' door wide open?!

Don't so much as fart while launching your boat or they will shut it down!

[ironbuck]

   North of falcon is a freaking joke, tribes tell WDFW what they are gonna fish based on the models provided by WDFW.   We get the crumbs that are left over.

[bassquatch]

Here, I fixed this section of an earlier quote:

"The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is the primary state agency tasked with preserving, protecting, and perpetuating fish, wildlife, and ecosystems, while denying sustainable fishing, hunting, and other recreation opportunities.

[95powersmoker]

Is it really up to the director? Or does NOAA and PfMC, Canadians, Native americans, etc pretty much just tell us what portion they are going to take and we get to make something out of whatever’s left? Listening to outdoor gps this morning sure makes it sound like Canadians are determining our Columbia River fisheries now.

If WDFW doesn't play a role in managing fish, then why do they exist?  It's pretty easy to lay the blame on others, but you can look one border north or south and you don't see the same story.

I'm honestly thinking about switching my vacations from the Columbia and San Juans and just go up to BC for 7-10 days and do all my salmon fishing there.  Back home, I can always grab a kid with a free license.

Pay more, get less.  No plan, don't fight the liberal interpretations on the ESA or make any tough choices to provide some hope for the future.

I disagree about looking one border south. Oregon is dealing with the same things in regards to losing opportunity and a spineless ODFW. Looking North, Canadians are getting their way, which is exactly what I said. Sure, you can go fish up there. All you are doing is perpetuating the issues we are facing down here. They're catching our fish just in their water. WDFW just collects license fees and sends out enforcement to do boat inspections and license checks. I think they do very little management of fisheries and fighting for our opportunities now and into the future.

[Stein]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

[WSU]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

[Skillet]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

As always, Washington is welcome to keep "their" salmon at home and pen raise them.  They don't wander around looking for food that way.  But if they're going to let them go feral and cruise the open ocean, often spending several years getting free room and board in AK, the landlords are gonna take a share as rent.
 

[WSU]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

As always, Washington is welcome to keep "their" salmon at home and pen raise them.  They don't wander around looking for food that way.  But if they're going to let them go feral and cruise the open ocean, often spending several years getting free room and board in AK, the landlords are gonna take a share as rent.
 

Spoken like a true low-holer. 

[Skillet]

I agree to some point, but the restrictions this year are not from a total salmon standpoint, just a few runs that are dead.  When those two disappear, there will be another somewhere and the cycle continues forever.  We could have a run of 50 million fish and the Stilly and Hood Canal would still result in a shut down.

I don't blame BC for catching fish in their waters one bit.  It's a fantasy to think that if they followed our lead that the two runs that are choking us right now would rebound.  Our problem is not one of overfishing, plain and simple.

Canada hammers our fish because AK hammers theirs.  AK also hammers ours.

As always, Washington is welcome to keep "their" salmon at home and pen raise them.  They don't wander around looking for food that way.  But if they're going to let them go feral and cruise the open ocean, often spending several years getting free room and board in AK, the landlords are gonna take a share as rent.
 

Spoken like a true low-holer. 

C'mon man, you know the deal.

Very important to note, and something that is rarely discussed, is that SE AK is just another stop on the great migration.  Our own large king salmon rivers and hatchery production up here out migrate to the West as well, outside of our own legal commercial trolling areas.  Your want to know who catches more king salmon in Alaska each year than all the SE AK commercial trollers and sport fishermen combined?

The pollock midwater trawl fleet.   They are to us in SE like BC is to WA, for a point of reference.  But talk about a powerful political lobby - the pollock fishery is the most valuable fishery in Alaska. They call the shots for the entire coast.

There is no winner in this shell game, unless you can shut down the mid water trawlers that produce mealy white meat for the McFishwich and Gorton's breaded sticks. 

[Angry Perch]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

[WSU]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

They know exactly where the WA fish are caught.  It isn't a mystery.   

Skillet - Just giving you a hard time (although you are a low-holer!).  You know where I stand on all this.  And I agree, anyone that eats a fish stick or McFish type sandwich deserves 30 lashes.

[Skillet]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

 

I think the real problem is making them wear sweaters to begin with.  The ESA listings have been manipulated to disenfranchise ALL fishermen in an effort to return the world back to it's pre-1492 days. Or whenever they decided to sample the gene pool of a salmon or steelhead run and declare it "unique".   This all assumes that salmon and steelhead don't mingle and wander into other watersheds.  One of the biggest scams of the Environmental movement perpetrated upon spirtsmen. 

Weak stock management theory and it's ripple effect is responsible for shutting down hatcheries, limiting fishing on healthy runs while they suspect a "weak" run is passing through.

This simple answer is to acknowledge we cannot return the Earth to Prehistoric status to appease the environmental extremists, that a slightly different genetic makeup of a king salmon doesn't make it a unique and therefore endangered species, and to seriously crack up hatchery production.

When the Columbia see returns of 2 million hatchery fish in the regular, nobody that fishes in any level will be complaining about how it gets split.  There will be enough for everybody.

[WSU]

People need to understand where the harvest is occurring.  This year is a good example.  Our Columbia River seasons SUCK this year.  Bad.  B10 is limited to less that 2 weeks and is set during *censored*ty tides (on purpose).  The seasons suck on up river.  Why you might ask?

The limiting stock this year is lower river tules.  77 percent of the harvest occurs before those fish reach the Columbia.  No summer kings either.  Same issue.  It's costing Washington millions (and certainly billions over time) of dollars to feed the northern fisheries. 

The fact is that fish politics favor northern harvest.  WA bears the burden of environmental regulations (think building code, logging, storm water, ground water and anything else that protects salmon), short or no seasons, raising the fish, etc., and then the fish get caught before they ever return to Washington.  Rinse and repeat, and then we all bitch because we don't get to go fishing. 

This isn't a shot at Skillet.  He and I have had many good discussions about the issues surrounding the management of our fisheries. 

[Skillet]

Perhaps we should make the fish all wear different colored sweaters so they can let the Washington fish go. (Pink sweaters, I imagine)

They know exactly where the WA fish are caught.  It isn't a mystery.   

Skillet - Just giving you a hard time (although you are a low-holer!).  You know where I stand on all this.  And I agree, anyone that eats a fish stick or McFish type sandwich deserves 30 lashes.

Absolutely.

FYI, WSU is a stand-up guy and although he and I disagree on much of the King fishery management, he is whip-smart and I always learn something when chatting with him.  He has my respect.

And because of that I can rarely resist piping up with my "low-holer" commentary for some entertainment, especially when we're waiting for another boat to clear out so we can load on more bait. 

[WSU]

And because of that I can rarely resist piping up with my "low-holer" commentary for some entertainment, especially when we're waiting for another boat to clear out so we can load on more bait.