Hot off the press!

https://nwsportsmanmag.com/esa-listing-not-warranted-for-olympic-peninsula-steelhead/

https://nwsportsmanmag.com/reaction-to-final-not-warranted-olypen-steelhead-esa-finding/

What do some of our resident steelhead experts think of this decision?

I would bet that the review did not look back very far, probably to the 90s if we're lucky even though there is some good information back into the early 1900s.

Steelhead are **ucked because they interfere with salmon management and on the NI side they are primarily caught by sporties whose actions (C&R, wanting to fish, etc) are opposed by the Tribes. Once they are essentially gone, the state and tribes can more conveniently manage salmon.

I do realize the "manage salmon" is an oxymoron.

I find the issue of Steelhead for WA strange. With a record of failure on every level with this issue one would think WDFW would chart another way of aproaching the issue. For many creatures around the planet humans have driven them to the brink and when that stops the creature does not recover and this is what the co-managers are heading for. Museum remnants that bios can can write about. Now that is SAD!

Based on what I read about from BC, steelhead are just too much a problem as they interfere with salmon. In the fall they complicate chum fishing and in the spring Chinook. Summers mess up everything. And since we know who runs the show here, I don't see any change.

Small museum runs with "acceptable" bycatch in net fisheries and leave them alone the rest of the time.

There are at least a few streams where an intensive hatchery program, even with Chambers Creek, could work.

I read that folks who like steelhead are lobbying the Leg for money to reopen and run Skamania. You saw from that decision where the value is placed.

Maybe some big changes are ahead,, structural type changes to the system and Territory itself based on a change of world system... No more international waters and a trilateral governance vs the current one world governance system of the UN,, WEF and WHO...

Maybe saltwater and fresh water food and sport interests regarding seafood and fish may shift based on changes to the global system... There may not be treaties any longer with other nations regarding waters and resources in the western hemisphere.. New deals will be struck and the emphasis will likely be towards what is best for the united states and North America and less towards global interests.. Maybe a most subsistence type direction is what is coming,, take what you need instead of all you can get..

One just needs to look at the Alaska trawl to see how well that works. The Seattle fleet goes up there and makes money hand over fist. Just kind of ignoring the bycatch of salmon (Constitutionally guaranteed fisheries closed), halibut, crab, even starfish. Oh, the trawl is "midwater". Yeah, the US looking for US interests will work well. AK and WA can take Fraser sockeye, Canada can hammer our Chinook and coho. We don't need any international agreements.

but then sell them to who? not overseas... Make the markets only domestic... No import or export of Fish and other Seafood...

The solution to the problem is outside the box,,, doing the opposite and telling the truth...

That's the problem with the Steelhead management,, "nobody is telling the truth" The process is rigged,, the counts and estimates are rigged...

Nobody wants to admit that you cannot harvest every possible fish and then some... Nobody wants to admit that harvesting some fish is fine,, but the majority have to spawn in the river...

Nobody wants to admit that commercial fishing,, under a model that seeks to take the maximum amount of fish out of the system is not a sustainable thing,, not a good thing...

Nobody wants to admit that sport fishing,, on healthy stocks has little to no impact... That harvesting a few fish by sport fishers has little to no impact...

Nobody wants to admit that commercial fishing generates little to no revenue for the state and local where sport fishing has the potential to generate lots of revenue,, support communities substantially...

As long as people remain greedy,, corrupted and compromised and make decisions that do not make logical sense nothing can change...

I am nearly 50 years old,, have been on this BB for over half my life... You would have thought by now people would have become smarter,, more effective...

In 25 years nothing has changed,, the situation remains the same... Lots of psychological experiments on the people regarding restrictions of opportunity,, in this region and that,, none of it actually has to do with any true information or conservation.. None of it has to do with recovery of fish runs or restoration of habitat...

All I see is people stealing money,, lots of fraud and the continuation of failed policies..

This fish passage project is like the peak of the fraud, like the most obvious corruption you have ever seen,, lots of money stolen,, skimmed and embezzled for no benefit,, on streams that historically have little to no fish anyways.. Not good for the environment and not good for the people.. A few groups benefit,, mostly Indians and select contractors,, state and local officials skim some money along the way... Billions of dollars extorted from the people to put in other peoples pockets so that the people can get screwed more...

Hopefully this system is really going bankrupt,, all the fraud and corruption exposed to the public because enough is enough... We cannot keep doing stupid stuff and believing we have potential for good results...

Lots of good points there, Rich. At the end of day, we have to face the fact that there is simply and oversupply of people.

Its not that there are too many people,, its that the many allow the few to run a muck,, to steal and lie,, to perpetuate idiocy...

We know its stupid,, we know its corrupt and all about money,, we know that these people in government do not care about the environment.. Look at Washington State,, the government talks a big game,, makes up lies about the environment,, about human caused climate change and then charges us taxes to fix a fake problem,, then since there is not really a problem to fix they steal all the money...

Why does Washington State allow Clear Cutting on DNR property? There is no reason for clear cutting state lands... It makes no sense...

Why does the state spend more money than it takes in year after year with record tax revenue every year? It makes no sense to operate a business that is not solvent,, it results in failure...

This state believes that men can get birth children...

Its not that they actually believe it,, it actually is that they are trying to force you to accept a falsity,, an impossibility.. Forcing people to believe that the impossible is true...

Cha Ching !

“It’s not that there are too many people,, its that the many allow the few to run a muck,, to steal and lie,, to perpetuate idiocy... “

Finally, someone’s figgured it out . Just like our Ruffed Grouse, it ain’t the 13 late season bird hunters that are killing all the Ruffed Grouse or the traditional first of September Grouse Hunting opening day that’s supposed to be killing too many birds, that’s just a simpleton’s excuse to hide the real timber management fiasco that rules the roost and eventually destroys the birds. And it’s not too many hunters that are doing it, it’s the money driven powerful few co managers that now control the system.

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