So far so good...
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2012/feb/28/elwhas-wont-release-hatchery-steelhead-this-year


Sorry not to paste the text...maybe someone else can do it.

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe has agreed not to release any hatchery-raised steelhead into the Olympic Peninsula's Elwha River this year.

The tribe is facing a lawsuit brought by the Wild Fish Conservancy and other groups arguing that the nonnative steelhead will hurt the recovery of protected native salmon once the river's two dams are removed.

The dam removal began late last year and is the largest dam removal project in the country. Before the dams were built a century ago, the Elwha River had some of the most impressive salmon runs in the Northwest.

Under an agreement in U.S. District Court in Tacoma this week, the tribe said it won't release steelhead from its new Chambers Creek hatchery this year as the lawsuit proceeds.

An attorney for the Wild Fish Conservancy says that will give the sides more time to work out a settlement or for a judge to decide the merits of the case.

they need to leave that river alone... period...

Okay, so what are they going to do with the fish? Are they ready to be released or not? If they're not ready to go, then they're not ready to go. The Tribe would not be releasing them under any circumstances. So the agreement is meaningless.

However, if these fish are ready to go to the ocean, and the Tribe is going to hold them an extra year, they won't be stocking steelhead next year. They'll be stocking resident rainbow trout. Many of those fish will likely lose their urge to go to the ocean, and will take up residence in the river. It's called residualization. It happens when steelhead smolts spend too much time in freshwater.

Now if you think Chambers Creek steelhead are a problem for the native salmon and steelhead in the Elwha, having millons of Chambers Creek resident rainbow trout ain't gonna make it any better.

So unless there is more information that is being reported, this agreement is either meaningless or it's going to really hurt the native fish in the Elwha River, which is contrary to what they're trying to accomplish.

While that's great news. One has to think that the tribes will not stand by idle and not fish..And they are for sure not going to fish for nothing. They will plant fish eventually is my guess.

No hatcheries = No fishing. Just sayin'

hasnt been much fishing on that river for how long?

also, how many rivers have had dams removed and not pumped full of hatchery fish?

this could be an experiement without actually ruining something, so see if infact fish can recover from what we have already done, without any help... the indians only care about MONEY, not the fish, because they wont be eating it all, they will be selling it to places like Key City Fish and telling everyone how great the runs are...

LEAVE THE WAH ALONE!!!

Sounds like a plan that should be renewed annually

I have NO doubt the fish can recover. I have serious doubts that we will let them.

+1

They should sell the smolt to the cowlitz hatchery or even put them in the carbon, those fish would be guaranteed to not come back in the carbon

I predict the state will coninue to manage the fish untill they are gone.
How can they claim to be effective managers when there is less and less fishing opportunity each year? Unless you count hatchery rags and pinks. Gill nets cannot determine whether a fish is hatchery or wild.

Greg its loss of habitat. I read about it..

so no hach steel but what about all the hach kings they are making....

Yeah...but when are they going to plan our DB put-ins & takeouts??? That is the most important question.

Read the second paragraph in the origonal post

Hatchery steel will hurt wild salmon

Huh

Big fuckin' deal... What is one year of not planting smolts, when the following year, it's business as usual??

I've been thinking about that myself since they started chipping away at the dams.

What makes you think the NPS will put in more access for fishing?

Temporary, but positive development nonetheless. Also, it indicates to me that the tribe must think there is at least *some* merit to the suit. Otherwise, force them to file the preliminary injunction motion and get an early win under your belt.