Around the late 1800's early 1900's over 16 million salmonoids entered the Columbia river each year. Now less than a million come back each year due to overfishing. Not by rod and reel mind you, by gillnets purse seiners, fish traps, set nets, etc. not even counting the ocean, just in the river alone Sad but true. Fish were so thick you could practactly walk across their backs. This of course is due to many reasons. Just some info i wanted to share.

Anyway on to my thoughts.... It is true that on the Columbia some of our biggest steelies return in the months of March April and May. And this of course is when the silver bullet springers return as well. Here is when commercial gillnetting also begins. Get what Iam saying yet? The gill net requirments is that the maximum size of each square can only be 4 inches measurred corner to corner. This means that a significant amount of the big steelies that return at this time are gillnetted (indirectly) and die. Even though this is incidental catch none will make it back to swim again. once entangled in a gillnet, no fish stands a chance. They suffocate rather quickly.

Some things have been done to try to help the survival rate of the incidental catch like improving nets. Making smaller squared nets so then the fish wont get there gills entangled. Well I am sorry still the majority of these fish suffocate. And if they do not suffocate the protective layer of slime on the fish is rubbed off and then the fishes skin is prone to bacteria that will quickly kill the fish. These are the type of programs that our tax dollars go to. ( improving nets)

So here we have the better fish of the species returning and we are killing them while killing many of our Springers native and non native alike.

The nets only allow smaller fish to pass through in terms of the steelies. These smaller fish are what retun to the hatcheries and what are used for producing offspring on all of the Columbias tributaries. This in return gives us smaller and smaller fish each year that will return only to produce those little "clones".

I 'am really tired of seeing this happen year in and year out. When the nets are in you can count on being fishless for a week after they are taken out. They hit those fish hard. Both salmon and steelhead alike and a few sturgeon as well.

This brings me to another question. Why do the gillnetters get to kill both native and non native fish.

I think that on days that the nets are in we should be able to keep both native and non native fish.... Not that I'd want too but why not? Iam all for releasing wild and native fish but why sould we when we have the gillnetters in the lower river taking almost every damn fish and indians up river are doing the same. While also destroying alot of beautiful, big, wild steelies in the process.

So whats the deal. We pay our fees and they pay their fees. Why discriminate. If were not taking the problem head on why spend the money on chipping away at the edges?