Originally Posted By: gooybob
Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
In addition to its spring Chinook program, the Muckleshoot Tribe has been doing a wild steelhead broodstock program at the White River hatchery for a number of years now. Returns haven't been especially good, consistent with the survivals we observed with the acoustically tagged steelhead smolts from the Nisqually and Skokomish systems this spring.


It's difficult to get any accurate data when you're counting on honesty from the tribes. They have been consistently unreliable in their reporting and then of course there's the fact that they NET THE RIVERS. I've said this for a long time. There isn't a more devastating impact on all migratory fish in this state (hatchery or native) then gill nets strung across a river. When they "claim" they are fishing/netting for salmon (and getting far more than their share) they are killing other species as well. We will never have healthy rivers when you have a group of people that are allowed, unchecked, to net crucial passing areas of the rivers. Especially when a great deal of those netted fish are thrown away if they are males and the hens are slit open, eggs taken and then tossed as well. It's sad at best.


I don't know about catch data, but I've never had any problem getting reliable data on White River hatchery production from Tribal staff at the hatchery or the Tribal office. There are problems with some gillnet fisheries, but year in and year out more Chinook and coho are taken in Canada than in the river gillnets. Lots more.

Out of sight, out of mind?