Guys –
Let’s clear up some terms here. Wild steelhead release (WSR) has been used in the state of Washington since 1984. This management tool allowed various fisheries to target abundant hatchery fish while releasing wild fish when their numbers were expected to be below escapement needs. In the soon to be enact moratorium on the kill of wild steelhead or No Wild Steelhead Kill (NWSK) – wild steelhead cannot be kill under any circumstance (except for hooking mortality). Catch and Release (CnR) is a fishery where all fish must be released. We can have a more meaningful debate if we are more careful about the terms we used – much of the debate earlier in this thread appears to center around different uses of terms.

Regarding blanket bans and their application to steelhead management; the WSC fishery model if you will – lets look at the science used by the Wild Steelhead Coalition (WSC) in this debate and where it will lead us.

A item from the WSC steelhead fact sheet posted by Double Haul in the discussion titled Wild steelhead kill outlaw in Washington-
“Wild Steelhead Coalition
Wild Steelhead in Washington Fact Sheet
February 2004

By Dick Burge, VP Conservation and Nate Mantua, VP Science/Education”

Item #5
”Washington’s wild steelhead populations are either listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act, chronically under-escaped or in periods of recent population declines. Of Washington’s 7 steelhead ESUs, 3 are now listed as Threatened, 1 is listed as Endangered, while the other 3 do not currently warrant listing. In spite of the “not warranted” status, wild steelhead have in recent years been chronically under-escaped in the majority of Puget Sound ESU and Southwest Washington ESU streams. In recent years, only the Olympic Peninsula ESU has wild returns that have usually exceeded escapement goals and are open to harvest.”

Clear the majority of steelhead populations in the state (4 out of 7 ESUs –evolutionary significant units) are in serious trouble with 57% of the ESUs federal listed under ESA. In addition as stated above 2 of the remaining ESUs are now chronically depressed and the third as WSC shows in their population graphs are declining.

The argument advanced by WSC is that state wide moratorium on the killing of steelhead is needed because the majority of the populations are in trouble and no exceptions should be made for stocks returning at or above escapement levels. Based on the status of the Washington steelhead ESU’s the same logic would dictate that are steelhead populations should be managed as if they all were federally listed as threatened. That is no wild steelhead target fisheries. Fishing impacts need to limited incidental impacts and at low levels.

Under this management there should be no fishing related impacts on wild steelhead populations except those that result from incidental impacts directed at either other species or hatchery steelhead. This in effect means that the only fishing where the targeting of steelhead would be only those situations where hatchery steelhead are both marked and present and out numbering the wild fish in a river system.

Clearly under the fishery model being advocated by WSC there should be no spring fishing of steelhead (of any type) in the state Washington due to the federal listed status of the majority of the ESUs. No exceptions allowed meaning no CnR where wild steelhead are being targeted!. I can only assume that this will be the next agenda item for WSC in their efforts to protect the wild steelhead resource.

Sweeping blanket regulations while simple nearly always result in reduced fishing opportunities and the above is just another example. Something to think about.

Tight lines
S malma