And we still buy licenses...............

Ouch.Good luck,

SZ

I try to stay out of these kinds of threads, but I gotta give credit where it's due. . .that's some pretty funny stuff right there!

fb

I just got a email.......License Fees are going to be the same as this year thru..

"License fees for the 2017-2018 season have not changed from the previous year".....

Sounds like WDFW is running scared !!!!!!!!

They're actually worse than the CB's. The CB's won a game this year. As far as I can tell, the WDFW is still 0 fer' 1 zillion.

Think about it. ONLY the Leg can raise fees. They haven't, yet. WDFW is selling new licenses, like always. If the leg approves a fee increase it will occur on the date set in the law. So, 17-18 fees may go up sometime later this year.

So, save money. But now before the fees go up!

If you act now, you'll get the same, $hitty opportunity you got last year for the same, unbeatable price!!!

It seems very likely to me that this is a ploy to make the growing number of us saying we won't buy licenses until we see justice buy our licenses early. I urge those of you in that boat to stand strong and wait to see what comes our way at NOF this year. If the prospects look good, I'll be standing in line with you to cave. If not, we can really put the pressure on by staying the course.

You can bet WDFW's budget is going to take a hit if this ploy doesn't work. That's precisely what needs to happen, to remind them whom they need to better represent.

Our rally cry:

Nice try, but I won't buy.
Stick that catch card in your eye!

Yeah, baby... more business for the eye docs!

Yup. Exactly. I'm only going to pony up for draw hunts now. Fishing is going to be a wait and see thing for me. Between Flea and myself, that's almost $200 right there. Get 20K additional like minded fellows on board and that's a cool $2 million.

We are the customer in this equation. Per usual, WDFW is just another Gubmint agency that thinks its the other way around. Don't piss off the Golden Goose or it'll chit on ya!

Not me.

Not clam digging this year?

Not crazy about razors,give me some steamers or mussels,and I'm good.

Natural Resources & Parks - 2/2/2017 1:30 p.m.


Senate Full Committee
Senate Hearing Rm 3
J.A. Cherberg Building
Olympia, WA

REVISED ON 1/26/2017 AT 5:10 PM

Work Session:
1) Briefing on the loss of Cowlitz hatchery steelhead and cutthroat stock.

2) Examples of state agency efforts on the government-to-government relationship requirement.

??????


I don't think I trust you any more.

Seems odd.

It's about F'ing time!!!!!!!!!!!
Roast em Pearson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GIVE US FISH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Senate Hearing Will Probe Half-Million Missing Fish From Cowlitz River
Fishing for Answers: Sen. Kirk Pearson Anxious to Grill WDFW Leadership in Meeting Today in Olympia


Posted: Thursday, February 2, 2017 11:14 am
By Jordan Nailon / jnailon@chronline.com
It turns out that when a government agency loses more than half a million fish, people are bound to notice.
The fish in question, as was first reported in The Chronicle on Jan. 20, went missing from the Cowlitz Trout hatchery late last spring and early summer. That report sent shock waves through the region, and the most recent party to take notice and demand answers is none other than the Washington State Senate.
“When I read your story I was incensed. I didn’t know if it was true or not, and then reading what they said, I thought it was total mismanagement,” said Sen. Kirk Pearson, chairman of the Natural Resources and Parks Committee. “They didn’t even say ‘I’m sorry. I screwed up.’ I’m pretty passionate about things like that.”
On Thursday the Senate’s Natural Resources and Parks Committee will hold a hearing, set for 1:30 p.m. in Senate Hearing Room 3 at the Capitol Campus, in order to probe officials from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for answers as to how so many fish can go missing and why it took so long for the rampant rumors of the loss to be confirmed to the public.
The hearing was arranged by Pearson, a Republican from Monroe. Both WDFW director Jim Unsworth and WDFW deputy assistant director Kelly Cunningham are expected to attend the meeting in order to field questions from the committee.
“I believe, especially with the department pushing increased fees in hunting and fishing licenses this year and yet we have fewer hunting and fishing opportunities, they need to come and explain to us how in the world do you lose a half million fish,” said Pearson. “I believe the director will be in front of my committee explaining and I have a lot of questions. We have some management problems at the (Fish and Wildlife) department.”
The loss of those summer steelhead and cutthroat trout smolt represents about 70 percent of the summer stock that was supposed to be released last year. The loss will likely hit the popular Cowlitz River steelhead fishery hard beginning in 2018 when the first big run of those steelhead would have begun to make their return from the ocean to the river as adult fish. The cutthroat trout that were lost would have begun returning this summer.
Pearson noted that fisheries in his district have also been negatively impacted by actions taken both by, and against, the WDFW in recent years so he is particularly sensitive to the economic, recreational and ecological impact of the the lost fish.
“When I see this on the Cowlitz I’m going, ‘Good lord!’ This is serious. It seems like I didn’t see the level of urgency I would expect. It just sounds like they are kind of whining,” said Pearson. “I want to make sure my kids and grandkids, and everybody’s kids and grandkids, have the chance to fish in the future.”
Pearson noted that he has wide-ranging concerns that were brought to the surface by comments made by WDFW policy coordinator for the Columbia River, Cindy Le Fleur, in the original story.
In a “fact sheet” drafted by Le Fleur, no definitive cause was pinpointed. Instead the blame was spread around to a number of theories including bird predation, disease, miscounting and premature escape from lake net pens. In one instance Le Fleur, who noted that the counting equipment is essential for managing the lake-reared trout populations, said that she does not believe the equipment used by the WDFW on the Cowlitz River is accurate.
“I don’t think it’s reliable, like if two fish go through at the same time. The counting equipment just isn’t perfect,” said Le Fleur, who noted that lake debris such as sticks and grass sometimes wind up being incorrectly counted as fish.
Le Fleur admitted that she was not sure of the vintage or origin of the counting equipment used by the WDFW, or if it is the most accurate option available on the market.
That statement in particular caught Pearson’s attention.
“It makes me wonder if all the counting equipment that the Fish and Wildlife uses is inadequate,” said Pearson.
According to Pearson, the issues at hand go beyond the interests of anglers or fish lovers. He sees a need for accountability from government officials, especially those using public funds to manage public resources. He wonders why it took so long for the WDFW to acknowledge the loss of half a million smolt, even amid direct speculation.
“The department has a lot of explaining to do and they need to take their job a little more seriously,” said Pearson. “People want transparency in government and how can you be transparent when you are pulling garbage like this.”
The senate committee hearing will be streamed live online at TVW.org.

Tried to tune in but could not. Anyone know the results, or get any good sound- bites?

You can watch it on tvw archive. The committee was not very impressed.

I tried to watch the TVW broadcast, but couldn't catch the testimony on the Cowlitz fiasco. KING TV did give the hearing some coverage on their evening news:

http://www.king5.com/news/local/wfdw-tries-to-explain-missing-fish/396271138

Okay, I attended. Probably the most succinct comment was from Director Unsworth that the greatest failure (and I paraphrase) was in how they handled this unfortunate event both in timeliness and completeness. To that end Senator Pearson expressed displeasure that he and his committee were not promptly informed. That was pretty much the "fireworks."

As to specifics, the production goal was:

Summer steel: 625,900
Late Winter Steel: 644,000
Cutthroat: 90,000

Facilities include 4 lakes each with a release structure to a common channel and counter prior to reaching the river. Ponds #1-#3 are five acre and have netting around the perimeters but not the center while #4 is 2 1/2 acres and fully netted. One of the 5 acre ponds was not in use due to prior erosion issues. And while it was purported that it was difficult to fully net the large ponds there was also a comment that it could be done for $500K.

As to the counter Eric (in charge of all hatchery ops) testified that they are regularly calibrated but are subject to errors such as multiple fish passing through at one time being counted as one fish but can also to count debris as a fish. He also commented that it is impossible to enumerate fish in the poinds.

The 2016 plan was to release 625,900 summer smolt. It was testified that they had two loss events (cold water and some disease issues) such that 540K actually went from the raceway to the ponds. Ultimately, they counted 202,200 being released with some being cutthroat. So what happened to the missing 337,800?

Well, that is still a question without a verifiable/quantifiable answer. It seemed that the primary villain was bird predation with an added factor that the one pond being unused meant higher density in the other ponds making those fish more susceptible.

Short Term Actions:

1. Smaller mesh netting at ends
2. Increased hazing (WDFW had expended all of its hazing $) to include all daylight hours
3. Shoreline netting (guess that means to keep otters out)
4. TPU going to pursue permitting for lethal bird control on site
5. Better estimates of in season mortality

Long Term Action:

1. TPU to be requesting $5 million for facility improvement (they own the hatchery)

My personal observations:

1. The hatchery staff apparently did not notice unusual bird activity.

2. The idea that one pond being out of commission resulted in a higher density of fish in the remaining ponds which made them more prone to predation ignores that for over the 40+ years of operations there was far more fish were being reared in those 5 ponds. My guess is that the density of 2016 fish was actually less than in those prior high production years.

Questions I would like to ask:

1. Is it possible that prior years' actual releases were far below those reported? And if so, how might that affect analysis of prior year rates of return?

2. Will proposed short term actions minimize losses to 2017 smolt?

That's it from my messy notes.