I just ut this info on another board and wanted to get in here also.

Well, this has been a year for me. I mean, I've never seen so many boats, commercial/tribal in the canal and Sound(Kitsap Area) in ten years. Today, as I drove on Chico way to Silverdale, I noticed a few people fishing where Chico enters the Sound. I then noticed a samll boat tending a net. I figure Tribal. I then see another net farther out in the bay and the net just keeps going and going and going.... Then I see ONE of the large boats that is tending this net. My guess is it would only take one pass with that net to basically get all the chum in the area. One boat had to be over 80'

So, Chico might be a bit slow for awhile. I've never seen that size boat in Dyes before. Later in the day, I spoke with a neighbor who lives on the water by the Washington Narrows and commented how they have seen large boats at 3am with all the lights on the water. Well, a few days ago, that is when high tide was. This boat would need it to get in and out of the bay.

Just wanted to let everone know.

Sorry for the news

I also drive by there every day on my way to work, reminds me of blue creek combat fishing, man, don't these people have job's.

i have seen those boats just about every time i pass by...i live off Chico Creek...there has been way more boats this year than i have ever seen...nets everywhere compared to before...but now they are getting a lot more for the fish...i do know that there were plenty making it in the creek...dont know what it should be, but there are enough...i have never seen sooooo many boats there before there, and so many people on weekdays...i have not gone to Chico creek this year to fish myself just because of the massive ammounts of people...i have watched them coming up the creek by my house though...i can watch that for hours...c

i have seen those boats just about every time i pass by...i live off Chico Creek...there has been way more boats this year than i have ever seen...nets everywhere compared to before...but now they are getting a lot more for the fish...i do know that there were plenty making it in the creek...dont know what it should be, but there are enough...i have never seen sooooo many boats there before there, and so many people on weekdays...i have not gone to Chico creek this year to fish myself just because of the massive ammounts of people...i have watched them coming up the creek by my house though...i can watch that for hours...c

It must suck living there with the dieing stench of Chum in the valley during November and December. I often wondered how people could stand it??? I can't even drive over it on the freeway without smelling them and saying, "#$%@," how can someone live here. Maybe if they net all the Chum life would be better for you this time of year.

Not a cool situation for the Killer Whales that feed on them in Dyes either--pretty cool thing to see.

I assume the boat is American. What company has an 80' fishing boat in that area?


Go online and get the email addresses of the state's congress people and complain. The state makes more money with sports fisherman that with commercial boats in my opinion.

Does anyone know what happens to our fish past the 12 mile limit? Are foreign boats netting our fish runs?

How does the typical fisherman know whether some of these netters are legal or illegal? Are there coast guard or wdfw patrols checking each boat to confirm that they are licensed commercial fisherman? It seems to me that an illegal netter can start scooping up a run, in full view of sports fishermen, and no one would know whether or not the netters were legal?

A typical fisherman doesn't know for sure. Nobody knows for sure unless the vessel is boarded and inspected. The state legislature can only legislate for non-Indian commerical or sport fishing. Indians don't have to follow fishing laws if they're on there hunting lands as laid out in their treaties.

A few years ago (maybe 10?) there was a case decided by a federal court where a Yakima Indian violated fishing laws and was fined. The Indian stated that the state laws didn't apply to him simply because he was an Indian. The judge ruled that state laws did apply to him if he was fishing off of the treaty- defined hunting lands. Apparently, this Indian was fishing hundreds of miles out of his tribes hunting lands.

So, there is a precedent. If we complain loud enough, maybe the state will have WDFW board and inspect these boats that are netting all the fish. If it's found that they are in fact Indians and not fishing on their hunting and fishing territory as defined in their treaty, then they are subject to state laws.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts about it. DISCLAIMER: It's possible I have the Indian tribe name and the time period wrong but I believe the rest to be factual.

Les

I also went by chico today and saw the big boat out there, I went on down to the boat launch to check it out and saw a bunch more 32 foot gillnetters. What really astounded me was right next to the launch were 2 small boats, about 10 to 12 feet, they were loaded with gill net, and nobody around. I've never seen that befoe. If I had of thought of it then, I should have got a knife and started cutting the net, but I didn't think of it then.

I haven't heard of the whales being in there in over 10 yrs. The big boat is a commercial buyer. I've seen other commercial buyer type boats on the canal and other places the tribes net. They just park and wait for the fish. It's just that the price of Chum are higher this year so we are seeing more effort to harvest them. A week or so ago there were 5-6 commercial netting boats in Colvos Passage. Not Indian netters.

We might have several problems going on. Foreign vessels, Licensed American boats, and Indian fishing vessels.

My thoughts are on the foreign vessels. Our salmon runs in southern Oregon are terrible even after 70% of the commercial fisherman have been driven out of business since 1975. Salmon go out into international waters where foreign vessels can target them. With modern electronics an entire run of salmon can be netted I assume. This is probably legal, but we want our state and federal officials to stop this some how if it is happening.

Possibly large 80' factory US vessels are licensed, but are taking too many fish due to political pressure. Don't know for sure.

I know nothing about the Indian fisherman and what percent of the fish they get. We don't have this issue here.

Following up on LFS' post, commercial fishing boats are marked. Non-treaty boats have a WDFW decal and a sticker for the current year, if legal. Treaty boats also carry a decal, but I'm not sure if it's issued by the tribe or another entity. A boat that is gillnetting and has no decals or stickers is fishing illegally, and you should report it.

An 80' boat isn't fishing. It's a tender, or fish buyer's boat that receives fish from the gillnetters.

Sg

actually it has been pretty cold the last few years, and i cant smell the fish like years before...but there are a lot of boats out there, still have never seen so many boats or nets...c

I like to take the kids down to Chico and watch the chum fight to get up stream. My 4 year old thinks its a hoot!

So I wander down to the enterance to show the kids. I see one guy fishing with herring right out of the package. No brining or anything. He tells me the fish keep biting off his herring so they must really be hungry.

Another is debating what color spoon to use cause the really like to bite on the green or red. Looking in his good size tackle box, or I should say rust box is many years of neglected equipment. He tells me the salmon are really hungry because the have eaten his last 5 spoons. They must be hungry he says, they are leaping out of the water to eat bugs. (Alot of hens jumping out of the water in the inlet to break up the eggs!)

Needless to say, after a few hours of rain and cold, they came away empty handed! ROFLMAO