Moravic hits that nail not only on the head but drives it deep into the board. Our natural resources are being killed off by all those things and more. The problem is that each of us-angler,commercial, tribal, logger, miner, developer can fairly honestly say that what they do is not a problem; it is "them".

Sporties would have great fishing, and we'd meet escapements, only if we eliminated the nets. The Tribes would have all the fish they need if development were controlled. or, if all the culverts were fixed.

Nobody wants to look at the whole picture. Because the gorilla in the room is all of us, cumulatively.

the Coalition just posted this....

no bait on certian OP rivers, no barbs, and zero killing of wild fish....


http://wildsteelheadcoalition.org/2015/12/huge-victory-for-wild-steelhead/

I agree with all of that except the closing of areas to boat fishing...comparing upper stretches of OP streams to the Deschutes or the Skeena system is so disingenuous as to probably qualify it as a straight up lie...or whoever is talking has clearly never once been to either of those river systems, or has never been on an upper OP river.

There is almost nowhere to fish unless you fish from a boat, and while that is clearly the intent, I am a big fan of saying what your intent is when you do something, rather than pretend it is something else in order to get what "really want".

Fish on...

Todd

Harvest by recreational anglers may be limited compared to that of other stakeholders on the OP, but this rule will reduce our impact and set a powerful precedent for others to follow.

This is the part I wonder about...

You got it Brooks. Sets a great precedent.............Except when the tribes justify their over harvest by saying that we left fish on the table in the total quota due to our reduced impact.

exactly what will happen... they shut the Hoh down a few years back to sports anglers due to low numbers, and the Quinaults took 89 percent of the harvestable fish.... so how is that a victory in any way? the fish will still die at the same rate they are now, nothing is being done unless the tribes stop netting....

this is older, and from the Coalition, but it states the numbers the Hoh tribe took after closings, and whatnot...


http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org/Repository/HohRiver-DickBurge

I'm absolutely in agreement that ending wild harvest sets a great example. Like others here, I'm less excited about the prospects of our co-managers following that example. That's OK, though. We need to stop letting how the Tribes may or may not respond be an excuse for not doing everything we can to keep our part of the house in order. If they choose to keep exploiting everything we give up for conservation, eventually, they will run out of bull $hit to shovel at the media (hopefully, that's before they run out of fish to catch).

Good stuff from the WSC (not those WFC jerks), IMO.

I'm more concerned they'll run out of wild fish first.

How do we lower impacts on wild steelhead?

We lower the impacts by not killing them. But, since we have agreed that the escapement goal is X and X+1 is one fish wasted, then the only place in the state where not killing wild fish will, in fact, benefit the current situation might be Willapa Bay because there is no other group that will legally kill them.

As we look at all the efforts being made for steelhead recovery just what is going on in WB. What is the situation there with hatcheries and non-harvest of wild fish? No tribes, is there any netting after 11/30, what streams have Chambers fish planted, no spring fishery to hit kelts. Just how well are they doing? The habitat is certainly not as bad as PS.

Shouldn't WDFW take the lead on steelhead recovery (I know they aren't listed, but...) where they can do whatever is necessary without having to ask "mother may I" and actually show us what works in the real world?

We were concerned about that when we finally fixed it 12 years ago. Then the town of Forks cried fowl, and it was instantaneously unfixed.

A dozen more years go by, and we're that much further down the toilet with these runs.

Hope its not too late....

http://wildsteelheadcoalition.org/2015/12/huge-victory-for-wild-steelhead/

It seems too early to declare this a huge victory or a strategic blunder. Hopefully the tribes play along.

The Tribes will say "Thank you for extending our season"

Stop fishing for them. I stopped this year, and don't see harassing them anymore. I will fish Oregon's Brood stock for my fix.

Damn, even a broken clock is right twice a day!

About 20, maybe 30 years ago, there was a big blow-up about the Buoy-10 fishery. WDF staff was pushing for closure due to lack of returns. Admin went ahead with the fishery. Lots of the same staff who argued against the fishery went down to participate. One of the Admin folks told me that he lost respect for those who did that.

If you believe the resource shouldn't be fished, hunted, C&R'd then don't do it. Walk the talk.

In that case it sounds more like lead by example but you can't expect that nowadays.....

Stopping harvest of wild steelhead and trout is a win, I believe. As stated above regardless of what the tribes do, we still have an obligation to protect the resource in any way we can. I also feel like closing the "one wild fish" loophole will keep a lot of the riffraff trophy fisherman off of the coast....

All of the other regs are really pretty stupid. No barbs, no bait, who cares.... the tribes don't use a barbless net. As others have said the best protection for the resource is to stop fishing for them, but until that is a multi user group stance all we offer up by making cuts on our end is a larger slice of the pie by the greedy and delusional.