* We saw how they respected sportfisher's rights concerning the excess Columbia Spring Chinooks last spring! You don't suppose .....

FISHWIRE ADVISORY: A new issue of NW Fishletter (No. 111-10/10/2000) is
now online. Fishletter in Summary is a new feature of this advisory
notification. Subscribe/unsubscribe instructions are at the end of this
message. Fishletter is available at http://www.newsdata.com/enernet/fishletter/
--- FISHLETTER/97 IN SUMMARY:

[1] NEW PROBLEM FOR NORTHWEST: TOO MANY FISH
Fishermen and policymakers got together in Portland last week to discuss
ways to catch next spring's expected surplus of hatchery fish. One
unofficial estimate put the number of returning fish at more than 300,000,
with some saying it could be double that number. The head of Washington's
Fish and Wildlife agency said state lawmakers are questioning why the
state pays for hatcheries if no one can catch the fish. Tribal members
balked at attending the session, but showed up after the conference was
expanded to include discussion of hatchery and fish supplementation
issues.

* If they are having any problems figuring out what to do with all those fish, I think we can help them out with an idea! Right?!? Now with up to a half million springers coming up the Columbia next spring, which will dwarf the 190,000 unexpected big return last spring, what kind of excuse could the NMFS and Columbia Tribal Commission possibly come up with to keep us from having a big long mainstem springer season on these excess fish? We should have an open season thru the spring on those fish we paid for, at least up to Bonneville Dam! And a bigger "bubble" at the mouth of the Wind River. The states still have a lawsuit hanging over the "Unfair Pair" in regards to this profound issue. Stay tuned on this one! - RT




[This message has been edited by Reel Truth (edited 10-11-2000).]

Hey RT sounds like good news bad news to me increased pressure on depressed stocks while trying to harvest hatchery fish with way to many litter chuckin high impact snagg em if they won't bite "sportsmen"!
Once again thanks for the heads up those early kings are the only ones for my table I will certainly be making the trip to put away my share for the year. I honestly rate the springs in the Coloumbia right up near the top for food value, I'm salivating as I type this.
Good to know that we might get to actually take some I only hope its while they are still in prime condition and not after the gonads take off.

Thanks for the info R.T.,sometimes what seems like the right thing to do..is'nt the way our state and federal governments work...we can only hope they open the eyes and minds to this great over site

------------------
Row Quietly and fish a Cataraft }<<(('>----<'))>>{
Release all Wild Fish

There is alot of interesting info in this new fishletter, I hope everyone here takes time to read the whole letter. Even though the sportsfishermen have little to no say in the politics, at least we can learn what is going on.
RT, My understanding is that the number of hatchery fish returning was not the reason for no chinnok sport season on the main stream Columbia, the issue was the impact on ESA listed wild stocks. Under secretarial order No.3206 from the Dept. of Interior the tribes got the whole quota of bycatch of protected fish. This will be the same problem next year. Did you read the part where the tribal lawyers interpret order No. 3206 to mean the tribes fishing will not be reduced untill all non treaty fishing is stopped for conservation purposes? At least Wa.State seems to be calling foul on this policy.

Keta,

Next spring about 70% the Columbia hatchery springers will be finclipped. Last spring it was 40%, and starting from 2002 it will be 100%, unless enough wealthy non-fishing campaign contributors/constituents demand further tax funding cuts on hatcheries, so they can buy a 3rd Mercedes, and their guy in Congress wins out. Since a majority of next spring's fish will be identifiable, the sport caught non-clipped fish can be released to a 93+ % survival rate (2 year extensive ODFW study proves this). And most of the released fish will be unmarked hatchery fish. In other words, under those conditions sportsman will have little or likely no significant impact on the Fed. ESA protected native springers. Not so with with the indesriminate killing nets of the Indian Tribal fishermen! So there is simply NO JUSTIFICATION to not allow us a long mainstem season next spring! Because of that and the states impending lawsuit against the NMFS and Col. Tribal Comm. I am optimistic that we will get a good season on them. Whether it's a fair and long enough one remains to be seen. - As for snagging these fish Native Son, I don't think that will happen on such a big deep river. It's on the tributaries snagging occurs, so that wouldn't be a factor at all for a mainstem season. Get your gear, BBQ's, smokers, and freezers ready!!! - RT

An undeniable number backed argument to send to your state reps:

After the BPA gets about a 22% ESA impact allotment on the native Col. springers next year we sportfishers should be 50/50 "sharing in common with" the Tribal netters about an 8% ESA allocation. As for this remaining 8% allowable ESA impact as it now stands (I think it was 9% last spring), the Col. Tribal Indian netters got almost all of that last spring! And remember that they connot fish selectively because their nets kill all native fish tangled in them. It is undeniable that us sportsfishers should get our Treaty called for half of this allocation; thus a 4% impact on ESA fish. Estimates of next year's run is between 300,000 to 600,000 fish. Let's err on the conservative side with the 300k number. Biologist's estimate that 5% or less of the run is the ESA protected native fish. That's 15,000 native fish. The Indian's, and sportsmen's, allowed 4% impact would thus be 600 fish each. If 1 out of every 20 sportcaught fish is a native, then even in the absurd hypothetical scenario that all of them caught and released died, then we should still have a 12,000 fish Col. mainstem quota coming. HOWEVER, the extensive study proven fact is that we kill less than 7% of those released ESA natives. That means our fair allotment of ESA impact of 4% is only 3% less that the 7% mortality rate on released springers. Then take into account that sportfishers have rarely ever gone above a 30% interception rate on any run of salmon or steelhead (according to expert fish biologist and former head of the ODFW Jim Martin). It's obvious; we couldn't come close to taking our fair 4% ESA impact allotment even if allowed to fish the entire run thru! (30% of 300,000=90,000 fish caught at the highest end of likelyhood. 5% of 90,000 is 4,500 native fish caught and released. 7% mortality of 4,500 natives is 315 fish; well under the 600 ESA impact due us). That means an unrestricted finclip harvest season for the entirety of the run is what we deserve of our paid for fish! We deserved it last year too. Furthermore, the 1974 Fed. Court revisions to the Judge Belloni and Judge Boldt decisions of the late 60's indicated that if one side of the Indian or non-Indian user groups took more than their 50% share of the fish in a given year that it would be made up to the under harvesting side the following year. Under those directives, with the Indians getting almost all of last spring's impact harvest, the sportfishers should not only get all of the hatchery fish we can possibly legally catch, the Col. Tribal Indians should consider buying us a whole bunch of farmed salmon to distribute to us as well. Of course we won't hold our breath for that to happen; and we don't need or want that to happen. But if we aren't given our FAIR QUOTA of next year's Col. springers then whoever is to blame for that travesty had better hold their breath ... and their ears! And be concerned for their jobs! - RT

WHAT I DONT GET IS, HOW COME ALL THE TRIBES AND EVERYONE ELSE GETS A HUGE CHUNK OF FISH WHILE UPIN IDAHO (OROFINO AREA) OUR OF THE PROJECTED 250,000 OR SO FISH THAT HIT THE COLUMBIA, THEY GOT ONLY 14,000 OUR OF THE MILLIONS THEY RELEASE EVERY YEAR..MAN, THATS PISS POOR MANAGEMENT..***SCHITZO***

Scitzo,

Out of the millions released from Idaho rivers, fewer than 20% ever make it as far as Astoria alive. So only a tiny fraction return as adults to the Columbia. As far as sharing any remaining largesse with their inland neighbor, Washington and Oregon have never been very generous. Our two coastal states have always been willing to have Idaho habitat, and hatcheries, produce juvenile fish. Then dams on WA and OR waters kill most of the smolts. And any that do survive to become returning adults were happily gobbled up in Columbia River gillnet fisheries and a modest sport catch.

Things are changing, thanks in part to ESA. We'll see how much.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Reel Truth - Before you go too far afield on this topic, some additional information might be warranted. I believe the Tribal fishery for spring Chinook is largely a dip net fishery. I could be wrong on this since I'm not an expert on the gear the Tribes use in the spring. Perhaps someone who knows more about this could provide that information. Do the Tribes primarily use dip nets in the spring or do they also use gill nets? I'll like to know.

But if the Tribes have primarily a dip net fishery, they should be able to differentiate between hatchery and wild fish, as the sport anglers can and do. I realize this may not change your basic point that sport anglers should be allowed to get their fair share of the excess hatchery fish. However, if everyone can tell the difference between wild and hatchery fish and everyone is using gear that allows C&R of wild fish, there shouldn't be a major problem. We should all be able to harvest the springers without seriously affecting listed stocks. And there wouldn't be a reason to bang heads with the ODFW/WDFW, the Tribes, or anyone else. But, like anything else in the Columbia River basin, it probably ain't that simple......

maybe this would be a good time to try the tangle nets??? So, they could release the natives and keep the hatchery. personally I hate nets and don't want them but maybe that would be a good to release the natives.

Cohoangler, I've seen gillnets in terminal areas,like Drano, during the spring, but I don't remember seeing any in the mainstem. So dipnets and crane-and-cable with a big old spin-n-glo are the usual methods. I wouldn't be surprised to see some nets next year because of the big run projections, although that flies in the face of ESA logic.
I like your idea about the tribes releasing unmarked fish. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Coho......

The Columbia Triabl fishermen do most of their spring and fall fishing with gillnets, and only supplement with cerimonial dipnetting. These gillnets kill all the natives that get tangled and semi-rot until they are pulled in. Since, as the states lawsuits validly argue, the Indians should be entitled to a 50% share thus 4% ESA impact on next spring's run, that would mean that they should be stopped at about a 12,000 fish harvest (unless it's verified the run will be significantly larger than 300,000 fish). I have more than a little hunch that they won't be stopped where they are supposed to be by the NMFS! I don't mind at all the Indians getting their proper allotment of fish, as long as their gilnetting is stopped at the proper time and then only allowed keeping dipnetted hatchery fish (releasing the nates dipped), or by hook and line like the rest of us so that they can release non-clipped native fish! What I do mind is us sportfishers not getting anywhere near a fair share last year and the ongoing attempts by the NMFS and Col. Tribal Comm.(who has the Fed.s by the balls) to not allow us a fair share again! Despite the valid arguments presented here and in the states pending lawsuits against the "Unfair Pair". I am optimistic of getting a better season next spring with such a vast number of springers coming, but I am not optimistic that it will be anywhere near fair. UNLESS us sportfishers start right now to write our state reps and Congressmen, and the lawsuit is effective during current negotiations, we will likely be given a pittance fraction of what we deserve next spring. We deserve a long awaited BIG PAYBACK! BTW, we aren't butting heads with the states of Wash. and Ore.'s dept.'s of fisheries; it is the NMFS and their Wash. D.C. string pullers, and the Col. Tribal Comm., that have caused us to need to butt heads. Let's get after it!

-----------------
Know fish or no fish. - RT


[This message has been edited by Reel Truth (edited 10-13-2000).]