Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
The value of chum roe should ensure continued respect for chum salmon by the commercial fishing industry. Chum salmon popularity in sport fishing seems to have coincided with reduced sport fishing opportunity for chinook and coho.

We've thought that LCR chum were limited by seasonal and peaking operations of Bonneville Dam, dike and levy projects on LCR tributaries, and the general degradation of the Columbia River estuary.

WA coastal chum fall into two catagories, the Willapa and GH populations that occur in estuary systems, and the north coast group that occur in rivers that lack significant estuary systems. While climate and ocean conditions may play a role in the condition of Willapa and GH chum, I'd first look at the effect of the coho gillnet season on chum. If the incidental catch is greater than 10% of the chum run, as indicated by catch records posted in this thread, when the runsize is below the escapement goal, then the co-managers are failing to manage for chum conservation, perhaps in a zeal to achieve coho harvest.

The north coast rivers are not chum salmon systems, and are unlikely to host major chum populations due to lack of significant estuaries.

Considering the status of the OR coast chum, the LCR chum, and the southern WA coast chum, a petition for listing under the ESA may be in order. While it wouldn't eliminate over fishing during coho fisheries, it would reduce it.

Sg


What Sg says about coastal chum populations is right on. Dike and levy projects eliminate many of the side channels and estuary tidal areas where juvenile chum rear. I suspect the same could be said for the Puget Sound chum populations. The lower reaches of almost all the local rivers have had recent extensive development. I don't think the gillnet fishery is any bigger today than it was 30 years ago. The only difference is that chum are worth more now so fewer fish have to be caught to make the same amount of money.

I would also say that the commercial fishing industry respects chum for more than the roe. Chum are the second most economically important pacific salmon, second only to pinks. They are the salmon of Japan and Korea, and are equal to pinks in Russia. They are an important commercial fish in Alaska and Canada. They could become even more valuable if the fears of some Japanese and Korean scientists are true. They think that climate change may cause the northern Sea of Japan to become warmer. The Japanese and Korean chum migrate through that area on the way to the Gulf of Alaska and their survival would be reduced.