I hope that the season is actually curtailed when the encounters reach the limit, and that there is good enough enforcement and observers to accurately measure when that limit is reached...

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Steelhead bycatch will limit netters

Thursday, February 13, 2002
By AL THOMAS, Columbian staff writer


Federal fisheries officials have issued a clear message to Washington and Oregon: Don't exceed Endangered Species Act catch limits on wild Columbia River winter steelhead again in 2003.

Agreements between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Washington and Oregon departments of fish and wildlife allow up to 2 percent of the wild winter steelhead run to be killed incidental to sport and commercial fishing.

That small percentage permits sport and commercial fishermen to harvest thousands of spring chinook salmon, which migrate through the lower Columbia at the same time.

In 2002, the states experimented with a tangle-net commercial fishery for spring chinook in the lower Columbia. Conventional gillnets catch salmon and steelhead by the gill or by body clamping and a high percentage of the fish are dead when brought to the boat.

Tangle nets, by contrast, have a much smaller mesh and tangle the fish in the teeth or jaw, allowing a much higher percentage of the wild fish to be released alive.

In the interests of conservation and to target on hatchery-origin spring chinook, and release wild fish, Washington and Oregon shifted from conventional 8-inch mesh gillnets to tangle nets a year ago. The commercials also were required to limit their net sets to 45 minutes and to have recovery boxes to revive lethargic or bleeding fish.

But to everyone's surprise, the handle of steelhead in the tangle net season last year was huge.

In 15 days of tangle netting, the commercial fleet sold about 14,600 hatchery chinook and released about 17,700 unclipped spring chinook plus a whopping 22,100 steelhead.

Peter Dygert, branch chief of NOAA's sustainable fisheries division in Seattle, told the Columbia River Compact last week it is estimated between 6 percent and 15 percent of the wild winter steelhead run was killed, far in excess of the 2 percent limitation.

Washington and Oregon took a risk last year and the steelhead catch "got out of hand,'' Dygert said.

He urged caution by the states in 2003, warning that critics of the tangle-net fisheries are watching and threatening lawsuits.

Tim Roth of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said last year there were not adequate safeguards to track wild steelhead deaths while the commercial fishery was on-going.

The states face a "daunting challenge'' trying to manage fishing seasons for hatchery stocks in the face of all the Endangered Species Act restrictions to protect wild stocks, Roth added.

Here's how daunting, and how it likely will affect the commercial spring salmon season.

About 15,500 wild winter steelhead are predicted in the Columbia River this year. Movement of wild winter steelhead in the lower Columbia peaks in mid-March, just about the time spring chinook also start entering in force.

Commercial spring chinook salmon fishing will be managed to allow no more than 1.8 percent of the wild winter steelhead run to be killed, said Cindy LeFleur, Columbia River harvest manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

That means once the commercial fleet has killed about 280 wild winter steelhead, their season is done.

Six days of netting have been approved starting Monday and continuing through Feb. 28. Large 8-inch mesh nets are being used because most of the early-returning spring chinook are hatchery fish headed for the Willamette and steelhead pass through 8-inch mesh relatively well.

But not all steelhead make it through the 8-inch mesh. It is projected about 165 wild winter steelhead will be killed in the six days.

The 165 fish would be 1.06 percent of the wild winter steelhead run. Put another way, they are almost 60 percent of the 1.8 percent limitation.

The commercial fleet could be down to around 115 wild steelhead still allowed to kill heading into March, when their chinook harvest would begin in earnest.

Dygert said he did not see how the commercial season could go far into March with so few wild winter steelhead allowed.

Of course, the projection of 165 wild winter steelhead mortalities in the first six days of fishing is just that a projection. It could be far fewer.

But several state officials on both sides of the river said last week the commercial spring salmon fishery may run out of its allotment of wild winter steelhead after only five or six days of netting in March and be done by mid-month.

Oregon's Willamette River management plan allocates 17,500 spring chinook to the commercials from the run of 109,800. The commercial fleet also is allocated somewhere between 850 and 1,700 spring chinook from the upper Columbia run of 145,400.

It appears very likely the commercials will come nowhere close to achieving their share.

Jim Wells, an Astoria gillnetter, said spring chinook earn the commercials an average of $4 a pound

"These fish are very valuable to us,'' Wells said.

Frustrated about how short their 2003 season may be, several commercial fishermen questioned management of the sport fishery.

Steve Gray of Pacific County suggested perhaps sportsmen should have recovery boxes aboard their boats. Chris Heuker of Dodson, Ore., said there may need to be a renegotiation of the sharing agreement for upper Columbia chinook.

Gary Soderstrom, president of the Columbia River Fisheries Protective Union, said the fishery agencies are bowing to lawsuit threats by sports groups.

The states will have 16 observers out each of the six days of the upcoming commercial season.

Patrick Frazier of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the sampling will be more random than in 2003, when certain sections of the river were not covered as well.

The Columbia River Compact will meet at 10 a.m. March 4 at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, 2501 S.W. First Ave., Portland, to review the catch data and adopt more commercial fishing times.

Bill Tweit of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife urged the commercial fleet to avoid, as best they can, any known steelhead hotspots.

Roth, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, pretty much summed up the message of last week.

"A repeat of last year's steelhead handle is unacceptable to the service and to everyone in this room.''

Allen Thomas covers hunting, fishing, hiking, camping and other outdoor recreation topics for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8054, by e-mail at al.thomas@columbian.com or by writing to P.O. Box 180, Vancouver, 98666.


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Fish on...

Todd.

Todd,

Good documentation.

Darin