DEWATTO AND TAHUYA RIVER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[seansfire]

Just thought anybody who has not made it out to fish either one of these rivers shouldnt waste your time. The indians have been running the nets as far up the Tahuya  river as possible  , yes , above the North Shore Road bridge , and they have been stringing the nets all the way across at the mouth.

At the Dewatto they are netting all the way across as far upriver as the tide will allow also. Over the last 3 years the salmon runs have been almost totally wiped out at both places. When are we going to start standing up and saying no more of these natives wiping out an entire run of fish from every river they go to and drop the nets?

I was told by another fisherman today that they are using the Union Marina to moore the boats. He also said he saw a whole days catch of silvers in the boat going to waste as they had been there all night just 48 hours ago. He called fish and game and was told they would look into it.  We all know how much good that will do right?

I am just sick of seeing the greed and waste these people leave behind in the name of the rights they say they have. I say we need to re-write the treaties and if they choose to have the same rights to the hunting and fishing they do it the same way the ancestors had to. Hand made canoes that they hand paddle and primitive archery equipment for hunting.

If anyone has a link or e-mail address we can all use to let our voices be heard please post it and lets all use it before it is too late. I sincerely hope the moderators here will have the guts to leave this thread alone.

[bucksnort]

I saw them netting down by Belfair State park this week.  First time I have seen them this far down the canal in a while.  It won't take long to clear the fish out when they sit at the mouth of Mission and little Mission.  Too bad.  Kind of nice to have some fish to chase this time of year close to home.  The canal has had a rough go of it in recent years.

[longknife]

document it on film, or camera! Elections are comming, nothing screams "fix it" from the public eye like a politician trying to get voted in! Let the news channels broadcast it nation wide! It sickens me to hear more waste!!

[JimmyHoffa]

document it on film, or camera! Elections are comming, nothing screams "fix it" from the public eye like a politician trying to get voted in! Let the news channels broadcast it nation wide! It sickens me to hear more waste!!

Especially if the politicians could show the voters how much it IS impacting them.  The power companies have to pay money to 'restore' wild fish.  Where does that money come from?  Their consumers.  I know the nets aren't the only problem facing the wild fish, but probably the easiest problem to fix.
Here's an example of how much the wild fish recovery could be affecting voters in these economic times....

As a member-owned electric cooperative that purchases power from BPA, 30 percent of Wasco Electric’s wholesale electric bill goes toward fish and wildlife mitigation. Members pay for this investment through their electric rates. It’s nice to see a “return” on our investment!

http://wascoelectric.com/communication/index.php/managersMessage/returns_on_fish/
Now, I'm not opposed to recovering fish.....but let's actually recover them.  How much longer should people be paying up to 30% of an electric bill because indians want to use gill nets?

[ICEMAN]

It didn't happen without pics.

[seansfire]

Needed to kill some time so i drove out to both rivers this morning thinkin with all the rain maybe......... NOTHING!!!!!!!!! Saw 1 fish at Dewatto and none at the bridge at the Tahuya. Didnt see any nets though either so maybe it will pick up soon.

[buschcrawler]

been out there all last week and the weekend. still slow!

[MACNMADDY]

I "heard" that bails of hay in the rivers will help the salmon make it up the rivers.  SO I HEAR!!!!

[seansfire]

Went to both places this last week 3 times and went home empty. I even heard a rumor that Dewatto is going to be closed waters after this year in order to let the salmon try to recover there. I was also at the Tahuya and a guy said there were 6 native net boats off the mouth the day before. 2 BIG ones and 4 small boats. There were NO fish getting by and i was there for hours and saw nobody walking out with fish.

I hope the natives are proud of themselves , they managed to completely kill 2 rivers. I spoke to a guy who spoke the  game warden the other day up there and he had a fish counter with him. They said only around 700 fish have made it up river at Dewatto this year. Less than that at the Tahuya i guess.

[JimmyHoffa]

You could look at heading west.  The Dungeness has a bit of coho right now.  So many at the hatchery that they were hauling them off by the truckload this morning.  Vibrax spinners are what I usually use. 

[huntnnw]

indians waste fish? u dont say  if they actually ate 1/4 of what they took they wouldnt have to take so much

[1morebuck]

Just thought anybody who has not made it out to fish either one of these rivers shouldnt waste your time. The indians have been running the nets as far up the Tahuya  river as possible  , yes , above the North Shore Road bridge , and they have been stringing the nets all the way across at the mouth.

At the Dewatto they are netting all the way across as far upriver as the tide will allow also. Over the last 3 years the salmon runs have been almost totally wiped out at both places. When are we going to start standing up and saying no more of these natives wiping out an entire run of fish from every river they go to and drop the nets?

I was told by another fisherman today that they are using the Union Marina to moore the boats. He also said he saw a whole days catch of silvers in the boat going to waste as they had been there all night just 48 hours ago. He called fish and game and was told they would look into it.  We all know how much good that will do right?

I am just sick of seeing the greed and waste these people leave behind in the name of the rights they say they have. I say we need to re-write the treaties and if they choose to have the same rights to the hunting and fishing they do it the same way the ancestors had to. Hand made canoes that they hand paddle and primitive archery equipment for hunting.

If anyone has a link or e-mail address we can all use to let our voices be heard please post it and lets all use it before it is too late. I sincerely hope the moderators here will have the guts to leave this thread alone.

...Send me some pics and a letter to the editor and I will put it out to over 9,000 people...

[JimmyHoffa]

As I drove over the Hood Canal Bridge this afternoon I saw probably 100 or more trawlers netting the east edge of the canal.  Started from the bridge and went as far as I could see, could've been more I was driving so couldn't get a good count.  Anyways, maybe there is a big run headed down the canal right now. 

[1morebuck]

Yes, the local tribes are filling the Canal with nets for the Chum runs. It is a sad sight if you were to count the nets from Potlatch to Brinnon. There is a net every 1/4 mile. I guess the $1.20 per pound is worth the devastation.

[seansfire]

I was told Thursday that both the Dewatto and Tahuya rivers will be CLOSED waters as well as the Hoodsport Hatchery due to the level of netting by the indians in the hood canal. I was told also that the indians are netting the canal so hard this year that the Hoodsport hatchery got less than 1000 silvers  and around 700 kings back this year and they were there hitting the chum run with the nets 20 feet from the hatchery walls on thursday.