Chasin’ Baitman:

From the Yukon River south to the Sacramento River wild chinook runs are in trouble. The quote below from the Northwest Indian Fishiers Commission press release regarding the season setting process is on target.

“This year’s season-setting process was especially difficult because of necessary conservation measures required by ongoing habitat loss and climate change that is resulting in drought, low water levels and higher water temperatures that are lethal to salmon.”

These ongoing processes are not going to improve soon if ever. Is there a better management scheme for Puget Sound chinook that might account for the changing environmental conditions? Probably not for a variety of reasons. As FleaFlickr02 alluded to, Puget Sound chinook are harvested from Southeast Alaska to Puget Sound. The co-managers have little influence on this interception harvest. Even if they did though chinook fisheries management in Puget Sound will never satisfy everyone. ESA listings, the Boldt decision, and hatcheries are not constrained or changed by ongoing environmental changes. Eliminate any one of those three factors and management would be a reasonable process. Puget Sound chinook hatcheries produce salmon for harvest (ocean ranching). ESA listed chinook are impacted by harvest and the Boldt decision guarantees the tribes the right to 50% of the harvest.

WDFW and the states taxpayers who they answer to are not capable of reversing the changing climate. Reversing the Boldt decision or eliminating ESA listings is a major national political battle and would probably result in something much worse. The only thing that the state of Washington can do is to eliminate chinook hatchery programs. I know that means no chinook for sport fishing but it also means no hatchery chinook for any other fisheries. I suspect that even a proposal to eliminate chinook hatchery programs would result in major changes to the present co-management scheme. It might also improve the WDFW budget outlook.

Not having a mark selective chinook fishery in area 10 is the equivalent to not having hatchery chinook in Puget Sound so for those of us who primarily fish in area 10 eliminating the chinook hatchery program is no problem. I suspect closing area 10 is going to have no benefit to the ESA listed Lake Washington chinook. For years we have hooked (and released) more chinook, hatchery and wild, fishing for coho when chinook was closed than we hooked fishing for chinook when it was open.

Think Pink.