The Chehalis side is where all the problems are... there simply are NOT enough fish to support 4 weeks of combined chinook retention in 2-2 AND mainstem Chehalis.
For the sake of clarity, I will spell it out the season [we hoped to push forward at PFMC]....
Sept 16-30 open Area 2-2 to coho, release adult chinook. Also open the north bank of the Chehalis upstream to Elliott Slough, single hook no bait, bank only, release adult chinook. This shore based fishery is meant to target unexploited early-timed surplus hatchery coho returning to the Lake Aberdeen Hatchery.
Oct 1-15 open remainder of Chehalis mainstem to coho and one adult chinook. Allow one adult chinook in Area 2-2. Release all chum.
October 16 forward release all chinook and chum
This plan provides maximum recreational opportunity for all users... bank-bound anglers, those with smaller boats that can navigate the mainstem Chehalis, and those with larger sea-worthy boats capable of taming the wind waves in the bay. There is also ample harvest opportunity for all users while still meeting the basins escapement goals.
Recreation, harvest, AND conservation... what more do you want?
Well the GH Committee's proposed Chehalis sub-basin season went down in flames... shot down by Region 6 managers at PFMC.
We actually sent a representative to bypass Region 6 and plead our case directly to the Council on Wed as per the printed agenda. Unfortunately, the stalemate between the state and the tribes concerning Puget Sound set the entire PFMC agenda WAY behind schedule, and our representative never got the chance to present testimony before the Council.
The only alternative was to bring our case back to Region 6.
Well they were briefed on our package and its conservation-based rationale. They were also apprised of our desire to maximize recreational opportunity for all users within the primnary constraints of conservation based on the runsize forecasts and WDFW's very own Tiered Salmon Sharing Plan.
In retrospect, we never had a chance.
Region 6 never blinked at our proposal. It was full speed ahead with their irresponsible, ill-contrived month-long chinook kill season that they presented in Olympia 10 days ago.... despite multiple violations of their very own tiered harvest guidelines and the certainty that the available chinook surplus will be overharvested by a HUGE margin.
I am so utterly disgusted and disappointed in this process that I am nearly speechless! (Ok that may be stretching it... I've never been known for keeping my mouth shut).
Over two years invested in committee meetings with the naivety that we would somehow make things better for the sportsman. The results... the loss of two more weeks of opportunity, three back-to-back seasons of rampant wholesale over-exploitation of chinook stocks, and more fish allocated to the gillnetters.
It is obvious that Region 6 has turned a blind eye to virtually every concern the recreational community has brought to the table in managing Grays Harbor... in-season management, annual limits, maximum recreational opportunity, harvest regs inclusive of ALL recreational users in GH, and above all else...CONSERVATION! WDFW's historic objective (as has been documented over and again) remains
harvest at all cost, the resource be damned.
(Did I miss anything Andy?)
It's time to take this fight directly to the Commission where our concerns might have access to more sympathetic ears. For the sake of the fish, I hope I'm right.
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