Here's mine:
I am deeply disturbed by the Commission’s attempts to triple the allowable mortality rates on endangered wild winter steelhead “incidentally” caught in the Lower Columbia River tangle/gillnet fishery targeting hatchery spring chinook.
The entire sportfishing and conservation community is outraged by this irresponsible proposal. The conservation efforts and sacrifices we have made are paying off in healthier steelhead stocks. From leading the charge for selective fisheries, changing hatchery practices, promoting habitat restoration, to insisting on more responsible hydro-power practices, we sportfishers have fought hard to protect wild steelhead. We did not make these investments to restore wild steelhead only to have them die as bycatch in tangle/gillnets.
Indeed, many of the stocks are still too fragile to even consider raising impacts against wild steelhead. For example, WDFW biologists believe that tripling the netting impact would probably drive the Toutle River wild winter steelhead run to extinction. Furthermore, ocean conditions right now are extremely beneficial to wild steelhead returns. If we want the most “bang for our buck” to help endangered steelhead, now is the time to invest in additional estuarine and riverine restoration efforts, not in increased netting mortalities.
To their credit, WDFW has been testing the efficacy of small-mesh tangle nets over standard large-mesh gillnets to improve release mortalities for endangered wild spring chinook. But the unexpected results are irrefutable; while tangle nets help to reduce wild chinook mortalities, they are extremely efficient at killing non-target steelhead. Clearly, there are other methods of commercial harvest that allow the unharmed release of wild steelhead, yet they are not implemented or even considered. Instead of insisting that the commercial fishery improve the selectivity of its methods in targeting hatchery spring chinook, WDFW irresponsibly opted to request an increase in allowable bycatch mortalities. It’s not much different than asking a school system to lower its testing standards instead of re-tooling the curriculum to achieve better performance from its students. This is just plain wrong!
I believe your primary concern should be shaping policy to rebuild wild salmon and steelhead stocks. But there are important socio-economic issues as well. Because it will result in predictable cuts in future sportfishing seasons, this proposed action affects tens of thousands of sport fishermen and millions of Washington residents. This translates to reduced recreational fishing expenditures that fuel the southwest Washington economy as well as WDFW coffers. This proposal benefits a handful of commercial netters who profit at the expense of all other citizens. Listen to the collective will of the people and consider the plight of endangered salmon and steelhead stocks, then let your conscience be your guide. Do not allow this preposterous plan to be implemented.
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
The Keen Eye MDLong Live the Kings!
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