I haven't seen any reports lately on the condition of the canal recently. I have a friend who lives near Tahuya who says that the starfish and perch that are usually abundant on and around his pier are just "flat out gone".
Looking for some other observations.

Back in october/november (I reallize that was a while ago) I was trolling the beaches for silvers and caught really nice rock cod...

Now that doesn't sound particularly strange till you find out that I was in only 6 ft of water trolling a plug cut herring with 1/16oz keel sinker (basically, just below the surface). The water vis at the time was only about 3 ft (just after those big floods on the skokomish) Rumor has it that the deep water fish move shallower in the low ox... but that shallow... whoa...

I would think that the low Dissolved Oxygen problem is a late-summer/fall event when water temperatures are warmest. Once winter settles in, water temperatures decrease; cooler waters hold more DO. Winter storms also create a greater degree of turnover which allow DO poor water at depth to come to the surface and re-oxygenate.

Ask your property owner friend when he usually sees shiner perch on his beach. I've done alot of beach seining in Puget Sound and typically shiner perch start showing up in the nearshore in May; by June they're often the most prevalent fish in catches and remain so thru September. By about mid-October, however, they again disappear from the nearshore, probably because of decreasing temperatures. It doesn't surprise me that he hasn't seen any perch this time of year. It would surprise me if he had.

What was the tribal egg catch this year - 300k? 500k? Multiply that by 10 pounds and you get 3 to 5 MILLION POUNDS of rotting fish protien in the Canal again. What's that gonna do to the DO? I'd be surprised if anything is alive by this time next year

Improved oxygen levels in Hood Canal have led state officials to reopen commercial and recreational fishing for smelt, herring and anchovies.

The opening took effect on Wednesday.


Hood Canal is Catch Reporting Area 12 for recreational fisheries and Marine Fish/Shellfish Areas 27A, B and C for commercial fisheries.


Fishing for squid, octopus, bottomfish, herring and smelt in Hood Canal was closed by emergency rule in mid-September. These closures took place to protect these species during a period of low dissolved oxygen in Hood Canal.


Recent measurements of dissolved oxygen made by the state Department of Ecology indicate that dissolved oxygen levels from the surface down to about 50 feet in depth are now adequate for aquatic life.


However, dissolved oxygen levels at depths greater than about 50 feet remain low and are detrimental to fish. Since the fisheries for smelt and herring occur in shallow water, these fisheries could be reopened without risk to the resource.


Fishing for bottomfish, squid and octopus remain closed as these species are still subject to stress by low levels of dissolved oxygen.

SPAWNOUT:

Your post mirrors my opinion on this issue bang on. All that fertilizer if probably contributing to oxygen-depleting algal blooms. Maybe the biologists out there can shed more light on this.

Personally I really don't believe the Tribal catch has much to do with it. If they didn't catch those fish the fish would swim up the river, spawn, die and as soon as the river blew out all of those fish in piece or in whole would be rotting on the bottom of Hood Canal again. I believe the problem lies more in the type of salmon that are being produced by the hatcheries, the mighty chum. The eggs of these fish will practically hatch on a dry rock and require much less time in the hatcheries costing the hatcheries much less money to produce much more fish. Let's face it, since when have you seen two years in a row with around a million chum returning to the Canal? I grew up in Belfair which is at the tip of the Canal and I consider the Hood Canal my back yard so to speak. It used to be a more balanced run. When I was a kid I would catch Sockeye, that's right Sockeye, and Kings, Silvers and chum. The runs varied somewhat from year to year with some years being better than others. I have noticed though with the swing of hatcheries dropping their king and silver stock to producing predominantly chum salmon that things have gone to the "dogs". I have never seen chum runs like the ones that we have today. The hatcheries find that chum are cheap to raise, they can raise more for less and meet the ever growing egg demand. It has to be the eggs because if you ever ate a chum you know it's not the meat. Sure the Tribal influence has helped this swing to raising chum because they sell those eggs for way more money they can sell table fare for but it is just as much the hatcheries fault for not recognizing the need for a balance of the different species. The chum that are released have a lower mortality rate than silvers or kings so they come back in greater numbers making the hatcheries look more "successful" another great reason to produce this fish. On another point people who catch silvers or kings in the canal usually take them home to eat which lessens the amount of rotting oxygen scavenging carcasses. How many chum are kept by the Sport fisherman? Maybe a couple to smoke, a couple for eggs that's about it. I know I'm not the most articulate person on this board but I think you get my point. More chum means more waste, more waste means lower oxygen levels. Just my 2 cents..