The attached document is for the Willapa Policy. The best I can tell is all the items are valid discussion points to be discussed and should be of concern! Not because of what the conversation is but rather what is not being put forward for discussion. What has not ever been clearly defined by WDF&W is just what all the words do the Willapa Community dependant on the hatchery production and it is effect long term. It is the designation of Willapa Prime and Naselle contributing for Chinook that is at the heart of the matter. The North Bay fisheries in T&U are going be limited by a 90% reduction in Forks Cr hatchery so very little Rec or Commercial opportunity will exist after 2019. This leaves the South end of the bay the primary fishing zone and this is problematic.

Using the Run Reconstruction tab in the preseason forecast model it is possible to get a look at the depth of the issue. One has to look to the Naselle NOS ( wild ) Chinook spawners in 2017 which were 1172 NOS and 403 HOS. Previous 3 years were much worse with a low of 483 NOS and high of 1048 HOS, hatchery strays to the gravel. At this point I would like to point out that the through some outstanding work WDF&W will eliminate the vast majority of staying with a new weir by 2023.

So let us assume the success rate for natural spawners pairs is the same and use the number of 1172 NOS for starting point. With the allowable exploitation rate of 14% the policy requires the number of impacts allowed would be 164 total for all users. In a year which the low 403 is your number that dictates 56.5 allowable impacts. Now both numbers are after harvest and can go up or down depending on how harvest is managed and other problems such as the ICH outbreak which will kill both HOS & NOS spawners as a disease cares little as to origin.

It is my contention that unless WDFW just ignores the policy there is not a path for inriver Rec, bay fisheries, and commercials to all fish and some years anyone to fish terminal Willapa Bay. There will be plenty of hatchery clipped fish in the mix but so few NOS adults that one could look at many thousands of adults returning with almost no NOS impacts to allow any substantial Willapa Bay terminal impacts to fish with.

To be sure those of us who travel around fishing it will be a another fishery gone and go somewhere else but the Willapa community will be stuck and take the biggest hit.

I guess for myself all I can say is this is not right. You folks in the Willapa Community need to get involved again and be a REC or Commercial your about to take a hit of epic proportions. You folks need to bury the hatchet and come together for your community while there is something left of your fisheries.


Edited by Rivrguy (12/18/18 09:15 AM)
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Dazed and confused.............the fog is closing in