I put this on the other thread about WDFW's response to the allegations raised on the steelhead netting issue, but I figured it should go here as well:
The state/tribal management plan estimates a 2004-05 escapement of 10,909,
assuming a wild fish retention opportunity is not provided to the sport fishery,
which would have an estimated impact of 800 fish.
The recreational fishery is predicted to harvest 6,757 (6,658 hatchery + 99
wild) fish in 2004-05 absent wild fish retention in the sport fishery. The QIN
fishery is predicted to harvest 3,963 (1,954 wild + 2,009 hatchery) fish.
How can this this reply be considered credible when in the same document, the state can't even decide if the sport impact from wild steelhead release is 800 fish or 99 fish?
The way I analyze this is that they are predicting about a 50:50 wild:hatchery return since they are counting on nonselective gillnets to harvest roughly 2000 wild and 2000 hatchery. It's reasonable to assume that the sport catch would fall in similar proportion. If we are projected to harvest 6500 hatchery fish, they probably are counting on us to encounter equal numbers of wild fish that must be released by regulation. If the C&R impact is 99 wild fish, the hooking mortality comes out to 1.5%. If the impact is 800 wild fish, then the hooking mortality comes out to 12.3%. Which is it?
The other thing I fear coming out of the WDFW numbers is justification for more wild harvest on the non-tribal side. This is just plain WRONG! Those "excess" wild steelhead should be invested in seeding the available gravel, not as an increase in sport harvest to appease some perceived inequity in tribal:nontribal allocation.
Two wrongs do not make it right!
If WDFW decides to allow wild retention for sports, that would only drive the total harvest (wild plus hatchery) into further imbalance as sports take an even bigger share of the total harvest. That will have the tribes crying foul and demanding even more netting time in the future.
Sports should NOT get sucked into this ridiculous scheme to allow retention of wild fish in the basin until all sides can honestly lay out what the future repercussions might be.