Once upon a time a REALLY smart guy said this about LCR gillnets...
" That fishery has become an anachronism that is inconsistent with conservation. It is also a non-treaty, non-Indian fleet, so racism is not an issue. And, importantly, there exists a reasonable solution that is consistent with conservation.
The LCR gillnet fishery kills steelhead and wild spring Chinook when hatchery spring Chinook are available for harvest. It takes a mix of hatchery and wild summer Chinook, and then in the fall it takes ESA listed tule fall Chinook while trying to harvest abundant upriver bright Chinook and hatchery tule fall Chinook.
The reasonable alternative is fish traps. But not the little one like the one being tested by the Wild Salmonid Conservancy down by Cathlamet. Large fish traps that could trap, sort, and separate by species and hatchery/wild status could be readily retrofitted at fish ladders at Willamette Falls, Bonneville and the Dalles Dams, Barrier Dam on the Cowlitz, and Merwin Dam on the Lewis River. Such traps would allow the sustainable harvest of hatchery origin salmon while safely releasing wild salmon"
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
The Keen Eye MDLong Live the Kings!