April 13, 2010 at 4:00 PM
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Catch o' the day: For every chinook salmon caught, state swallows $768
Posted by Letters editor
Over two years, chinook catch has become dismal
As an avid blackmouth salmon angler for many years, I have to comment on your story “State’s expensive catch: the $768 Sound salmon” [page one, April 10].
I have fished the same areas for years and they have always been productive. It has only been the past two years that has shown a remarkable drop in the catch in these areas. Either the blackmouth no longer inhabit these areas after many years of doing so or these fish simply are extinct.
Your writing specifically blamed environmental conditions for the decline —pollution and habitat loss. That is a lot of bad things people are doing in just two years.
My understanding is the Puget Sound is cleaner now than it was 30 years ago. I see an ever-increasing number of seals and sea lions, which should be controlled. But I doubt that predators, while partly to blame, are the main cause of catch decline.
My sonar indicates an abundance of baitfish, so the salmon should not be starving. “Their survival lately hasn’t been very good,” the division manager for Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) hatcheries said.
Maybe the state auditor’s office that came up with these data (one fish caught for every 900 released) should audit the actual number of fish released by WDFW. The migratory fall chinook catch in the same areas has become dismal in the last few years also. The ocean must have been ruined by mankind, too.
— Robert Vandeputte, Bremerton
Headline misleading; tax revenue, local jobs not considered
The salmon story’s headline is very misleading because it does not take into account all the tax revenue and local jobs that salmon fishing creates in the Puget Sound region.
There are many local tackle manufactures, fishing tackle stores, marinas, boat-repair shops, bait companies and all the support industries that cater to the salmon fishing industry in King County and Snohomish County. All these jobs create family living wages.
There is good evidence that releasing chinook salmon so small that they only cost 11 cents is just an effort in futility. Chinook salmon released into the wild from a hatchery that small would only produce food for birds and other predators.
Nonetheless, chinook salmon released from a hatchery that miniature will never survive. The result: The few chinook that are caught will be $5,000 a pound. Jobs will be lost. Tax revenue will decrease. Fishing tourism will disappear. The only salmon in the Seattle area will be at Pike Street Market. Priceless?
The state should concentrate on repairing the environmental damage done to the Puget Sound rivers and cleaning up the pollution in Puget Sound. When those tasked are accomplished, there will be plenty of salmon.
— John Martinis, Mukilteo
