Lose the Tokul Creek Hatchery and lose recreational steelhead fishing on the Snoqualmie River system. It could be as simple as that.

Or not, but it sure feels that way to this longtime observer of state fishery management and bureau-speak.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is soliciting public participation in two meetings this month to discuss "proposed operation changes at the Tokul Creek Hatchery." After a long talk with the agency's Region 4 (Mill Creek) fish program manager, Annette Hoffmann, I was left with no real reason to believe the proposal does not mean the end of sport steelheading on the Snoqualmie.

Under the proposed plan, still being discussed with .....

COHO:

BASS TOURNEY

SAMISH KINGS:

Continued@URL... http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080904/SPORTS/709049948/1008/SPORTS02

They tried to do this a few years ago but there was so much flak from the sporties that they had to keep it going. So If you want to keep this fishery you had better get on the stick and write call and pester all government reps to keep this from happening or we will not have thisriver to fish.

Did anyone attend last nights meeting in Mill Creek?

Yes

Yes there were a number of us there however there seemed to be more WDFW employees then sports fishers and it also seemed that a lot of the WDFW employees were getting some of the information first hand like the rest of us. You should have seen some of the jaws drop when Ron Warren (sp?) from WDFW indicated that a decision on Tokul's future might be made in as little as three weeks.

Anyway, the proposal basically is for the end of plants of 20K winter steelhead smolts in the Raging River and also the Tolt River and there seemed to be no problem with that from anyone in the room. The "bombshell" was that they will transfer the production of 170K winter steelhead from Tokul Creek to the Wallace River on the Skykomish AND RELEASE THEM IN THE WALLACE. So now the Skykomish (Reiter & Wallace) will basically get a majority of the hatchery production of winter steelhead except some small plants in the Sultan, Pilchuck etc. Can you even begin to conceive what the fishing pressure is going to be like on the Sky during the drop after the first high river flows of December? Picture combat fishing at its worse.

Anyway, a number of us made the case that the Tokul hatchery winter steelhead stock is a segregated program (Chambers Creek stock) and that interaction with Snoqualmie wild winter fish is insignificant. We also pointed out the success of the Tokul program with respect to smolt to adult percentages as compared to other winter steelhead hatchery programs within Puget Sound. A number of us made the case that the Tokul facility is so close to a major urban area that the loss of recreational opportunity would be drastic.

The Trailblazers, who are volunteers that stock alpine lakes with trout supplied by the Tokul facility, made a good showing and indicated they were concerned with having to go all the way to Arlington to get fish for stocking in the Snoqualmie drainage.

Ron Warren closed the meeting indicating that whatever decisions that are going to be made at Tokul are being made for CONSERVATION concerns not BUDGET constraints. This is a big deal. In the past, like with Reiter, it was all about needing the money to run the facility. Now that the conservation card is being played how are you going to argue against it? Heather Bartlett from WDFW indicated that there is some proof of hatchery fish of Chambers Creek stock "blending genetically" with wild fish in certain areas which is not a good thing. Proponents of segregated programs have always argued that genetic blending was not occurring therefore the segregated winter steelhead hatchery programs were not adversly affecting wild fish.

Some people at the meeting argued that the winter steelhead hatchery program should be switched to an integrated program using "river of origin" broodstock but I can't see that happening because you don't have enough wild fish to justify taking broodstock. The Snohomish system wild winter steelhead haven't made escapement goals for something like ten years and are currently listed under ESA. The HSRG is against taking broodstock from depressed runs and I doubt that the Fed's would allow it either.

In the end, and this is just my opinion, if WDFW wants to eliminate the Tokul facility's winter steelhead program to show the Fed's that they are trying to invoke hatchery strategies that comply with the listing of Puget Sound steelhead...that being the segregated hatchery programs are significantly harmful to the listed wild stocks....then we are in deep.....

So I hope a lot of you can attend the meeting thursday night at the hatchery in Issaquah. Talk with your contacts. Think about it and show-up and make a case either for wild fish, hatchery fish, fishing opportunity or all the above! Hell...in my opinion if it nots broken then don't break it.

Beezer

2001 was the first major decline in Wild Steelhead on the Snoqualmie. Why did the hatchery and wild fish work so well for over sixty years and then all off the sudden start to fail? Did the hatchery fish get better at spawning? There has never been any genetic research on the SNOQUALMIE RIVER's fry population to see if the hatchery fish are in fact integrating. At the meeting the WDFW was not able to produce one case where this theory of conservation has shown to be successful. If this theory was so sound why then would the WDFW then contradict itself be almost doubling the hatchery fish in the Sky?


What a mess!

there is an interesting artical in the recent Salmon & Steelhead Journal on Washington State's Steelhead Plan, although I would like to actually get a copy of the Plan itself... not rely on it second hand (will do some research now to find it online). It seems that allot of this is being done as "experiment" or speculation since no hard data is apparent. my fear is that the future of sports fishing for steelhead will be left to good producing hatchery rivers like the Sky and Cowlitz. that all of us sports fisherman will be forced to choose between these 2 streams while the others become wild steelhed santuaries.... and to BEEZER's point, I can already imagine the shoulder-to-shoulder situation that something like this would result in. like the Skok is to Fall Chinook being one of the only open fisheries.

I, personally, do believe that conservation is important. But I hope that the Steelhead Plan results in more concrete solutions at managing these dwindling fisheries rather than taking random shots in the dark to experiment for results. way too important to play around with.

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/steelhead/index.htm


You can find the link on this page.

This proposal would be a significant act of conservation to boost returning wild stock. Does this mean the nets will be pulled ?

Steelhead are not targeted in the snohomish system by tribal gillnetters. They are not to blaime for declining snohomish system wild steelhead.

Steelhead may not be, but what about coho? One part of the run they are interested in seeing return is the early component showing in Nov-Dec. Is there still net activity going on then for coho? What about netting on the South side of Whidbey for chum. Top of the column right on the beach... sounds like steelhead water. I agree there is not a targeted steelhead fishery in the sno, but what about incidental on the way in?

At the Meeting in Issaquah last night WDFW said they netted 195 Steelhead last year.

SCARBOO

The Tulaip tribes conduct (cut regulations) winter fisheries targeting steelhead every year. For a number of years that fishery has been a low key one with only a handful of tribal members taking part in the fishery every year. The result is that their catch is much lower than a couple of decades ago.

The changes in the Tokul Creek hatchery proram including making the Snoqualmie a wild steelhead "gene bank" would not have any effect on the tribal fishery. There still would be roughly the same numbers of hatchery fish returning to the Snohomish system and passing through the Tribal usual and accustom steelhead fishing area (marine waters in MA 8-2).

However it is important to remember that the Statewide steelhead Plan would call for no fishing (even CnR) in the Snoqualmie wild steelhead "gene bank" as long as the steelhead population remains at its current status - that is under escaped. If conditions improve and runs above escapement objectives are expected the Plan would allow for some CnR fishing targeting those wild fish. Of course with runs size above escapement goals the Tribes could target those wild fish as well.

Tight lines
Curt

... and not to mention the [non-tribal] netting that takes place in the saltwater along the migratory paths of steelhead and salmon from California up to Alaska and including BC and other Canadian-based sources.

The latest STS has an interesting artical on "selective" gillnetting and especially as it has impacted returns on the Columbia River system.

I believe that the "steelhead plan" intends to examine ALL sources of decline in the returns- including dams, commercial fishing, aquaculture, tribal fishery rites, etc. In addition, there is mention (perhaps also in the latest STS) that the senate issued mandate that the Snake River returns be re-examined and alternatives proposed. this would have to include the impact of the dams and irrigation practices on the east side of Washington State.

so if they do close the hatchery down this year will we still be able to fish it this winter?? or was that even brought up at the meetings.

...can fish it this winter, maybe coast another year or two, but if they pull the plug on the hatchery (with plants to go from 150k to zero) then that is all folks.
They talked about restoring wild fish to "harvestable" levels in the future, but bet it wouldn't be in our lifetimes! And to help nates recover, would guess the whole snoqualmie system would be shut down to recreational steelheading, maybe some C&R. This is all too hard core too fast!

Curt,

How can they mananage the Snoqualmie by itself seperate from the entire snohomish system when for so long all I have heard was they have to managage the entired system Snohomish, Sky, Pillchuck, and Snoqualmie as one system? Couldn't close down one and keep the other open. As far as I know there is no specific escapement for the Snoqualmie only the snohomish system as a whole so if they close the snoqualmie down in December say they should have to do it for then entire system. Correct?

JJ

JJ -
Idon't see any reason why the Snoqualmie could not be managed with a different regulation than other portion of the basin. It all ready is with the summer long bait ban. When you think about it various poritons of the basin currently have different regulations. Some tribs are closed in the winter, others are open through February. For years the Sky had a spring CnR season while the Snoqualmie did not.

I suspect what you are thinking about is that there is a singel escapement goal for the basin - not individual goals for the various portions of the basin. Changing that approach would require Tribal agreement and would likely impact mix stock fisheries in the lower river or the sound. If that apparoach were transferred to salmon there would significant implications to management through out the PNW.

Tight lines
Curt

An update from the WDFW that I received this morning.....looks like we are going to be left hanging for awhile.


Thank you for your email expressing your concern over possible hatchery
production changes at the Tokul Creek Hatchery. As part of a broad effort to
protect wild salmon and steelhead stocks, the Department of Fish and Wildlife
(WDFW) is considering designating the Snoqualmie River Basin (or some portion
of it) as a Wild Stock Gene Bank (WSGB) for steelhead and also changing the
way it operates the Tokul Creek Hatchery. These considerations are on-going,
and include input from the public, discussions within WDFW, and discussions
with Tribal Co-Managers. Two public meetings concerning these potential
actions occurred last week; one on 9/9/08 in Mill Creek, and the second on
9/11/08 at the Issaquah Hatchery. This possible action has attracted a great
deal of public interest and both public meetings were very well attended. In
addition to the numerous phone calls and written comments, we at WDFW received
a great deal of valuable input at last week's public meetings.

At this point, the WDFW and its Tribal Co-Managers have not reached any final
decision regarding modification of the Tokul Creek Hatchery operation or
designation of the Snoqualmie River as a WSGB. Written correspondence (such
as your own) is an excellent avenue for providing public input regarding the
management actions under consideration. Your interest and your input on this
issue are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your letter.

Sincerely,
Region 4 Customer Service

I think what they are trying to say is "STOP WRITING WE ARE GOING TO DO WHAT WE WANT"

SCARBOO