I just finished a good new book on the plight of our Salmon. It is called King of Fish - The Thousand Year Run of Salmon. Author is David R. Montgomery.

I recommend this book not for any new ground that it breaks (although there is some interesting comments about wood debris in the streams) but for the historical perspective that it gives. It traces the loss of Salmon in Europe and New England and what is really scary is that 300 years ago there were people warning that we would eliminate Salmon if we did not change our ways.

One thing that I took away from this read is a reinforcing of my belief that wild Salmon release is as critical as wild Steelhead release. I know that this is not as widespread a belief, but the gene pool represented by the wild fish is critical to the long term survival of the best adapted fish.

Good read.

better send some copies of that book to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Eddie -
Thanks for the heads up - haven't had a chance to read the book yet but have put it on my to read list.

Your comment regarding wild salmon release has been discussed before but however it remains germane. If one truly beliefs it is mandatory that all wild steelhead be release then why not all wild salmon. All the anadromous salmonid's are using the same freshwater habitats and at least some portion of the same ocean. At least in the case of steelhead we are allowed to harvest wild steelhead in only rivers expected to met or exceed their escapement goals. While in the marine fisheries for salmon the anglers may catch a salmon from wide geographic areas. For ESA listed Puget Sound chinook the with the salmon season for the last couple years catch anywhere from 7% to 30% or more of individual Puget Sound stocks.

When one begins to question whether to have wild salmon release a whole another list of questions come up about hooking mortality etc.

All the various salmonid stocks have their ups and downs with periods of high abundances and low abundances. While it makes just good sense not to harvest when abundances are low and why not when they are high. A Puget Sound example this past season would the situation of the wild pinks and chinook. Lots of pinks and allowing the harvest seemed me to be appropriate however maybe not for the chinook were many were not likely to meet escapement goals.

The situation with wild steelhead. That a hypothical river that had a consistent freshwater production of say 100,000 wild steelhead smolts. From studies up a down the coast we know that wild smolt to adult survivals vary from as low as 3% to as much as 25% (average in the 10 to 15%). Meaning that the potential run sizes might range from as low of 3,000 to as many as 25,000 steelhead.

It seems to me that some sort of sliding scale of allowable fishing impacts (dead fish- whether from harvest or hooking mortality) makes sense. That includes harvest at high abundances. For me that would work regardless of the species.

Tight lines
Smalma

Smalma, It's an interesting question. And in my mind the question needs to be framed in this context. What % of a run should be allowed for harvest? The author of the book I posted about states that 50% is sustainable and practical. Now, there are several issues with this not the least is can we in fact make accurate pre-spawning forecasts to judge the size of a run? Under the current situation and with our fisheries managed under the Maximum Sustained Yield model, I believe it is best to err on the side of caution and release wild salmon. My $.02

The Wild Steelhead Coalition gave (loaned?) copies of this book to each of the commissioners at the meeting in Pt. Townsend. Let's see if they read it and see the road we are headed down. The author is a professor at U.W.

eddie..glad to see you post the "maximum sustainable harvest" angle to this story. For many years I have been preaching to the commission and others that the mandate they hand their hats on shouold read: "Maximum Sustainable Survival"

Standing in the way are gill nets , the tribes, and a lack of universal marking of all hatchery fish. Oh and budgets....WDFW outlined their budget problems on Friday at Port townsend and painted a pretty disgusting picture of the State dinging them for millions of dollars for unrelated costs..One example is the $1,000,000.00 for their "share" of state clerical workers. The state of Washington has an extremely high level of public employees...shall we say too many pigs at the trough? So with 5 people doing the job of one the budget isn't billed to the agencies that are so bloated but divided "evenly" across all agencies. Another big drain on the WDFW budget is the money they have to kick into the pot or should I say the money that is sucked out of their fish and wildlife budget to help pay for the myriad of law suits mostly originating with DSHS....the most corrupt and bloated of all state agencies ( and the biggest) So when employees on the state payroll sue and win $20 million dollars because they had to work 40 hours a week for their salary when others only had to work 35...The other agencies like WDFW suffer.

So at the end of the day we don't have enough money to support fin clip programs and enforcement. Too bad. I say fire atleast 20% of those on the state payroll and when you get rid of the fat approach the rest of them and increase their productivity of weed some more out. Then with all that money you save get the WDFW budget back on track to do what is necessary.

Eddie,
That book is on my list of books to read. Some Whidbey Island residents released a new movie on the fish farming debate recently, and I caught a viewing of in Langley the other night. They also mention "King of Fish" as being a good new book from a local UW author.

I am reading, for the first time, another great book about our local salmon's plight titled "Mountain in the Clouds - A search for wild salmon". I am sure it's a bit dated, but I am really enjoying it. I highly recommend it for anyone who has not read it. (I'm 1/2 way done)

It's set on the OP and throws in a lot of good local history.

To "piggy back" off Jerry's post-

Jack Berryman, WSC Past President, spoke of the Historical Failure of Salmonids Management and warned to let us learn from history and not repeat historical failures while we still have a chance. Jack presented each Commission member and WDFW Director Koenings on behalf of the WSC a copy of the just released book by David Montgomery, King of Fish: 1000 Year Run of Salmon. (suggested reading for all)