While this issue has been debated to death I thought this example would supply some insights.

North Fork Stllaguamish Example:

Winter Steelhead Escapements on North Fork Index
Year Number of spawners (goal 950)
1985 1,542
1986 2,226
1987 1,892
1988 1,222
1989 1,718
1990 na
1991 950
1992 na
1993 1,178
1994 1,118
1995 1,556
1996 1,094
1997 na
1998 1,185
1999 917
2000 463
2001 630

Due to the turbid conditions found in much of the Stillaguamish basin-wide spawning surveys and escapement estimates are not possible. To track the status of the Stillaguamish winter steelhed the state began surveys in an index area in 1985. The index is the North Fork Stillaguamish and its Tributaries upstream of Deer Creek. While this is not ideal it is what is possible and hopefully the index counts are somewhat representative of what the population is doing in the basin. The MSY goal for the just the index area was estimated to be 950 adults.

As you can see the average escapements during the first three years (1985 through 1987) was 1,887 or nearly twice the goal. With escapements that far above the goal it was predictable that the State would make regulation changes. Up until that time the regulations (in effective form 1978 to 1988) allowed the retention of steelhead (including wild fish) until March 31 on the main Stillaguamish. On the North Fork from the mouth to Boulder Creek was open until the end of February; from Boulder Creek to Swede Heaven was open until the end of March. Again wild fish were fair game on the North Fork.

The new regulations that went into effect April 16, 1988 and were adopted with little comment from the public either for or against the changes. The changes eliminated the March keep season on the North Fork and allowed fishing all spring under wild steelhead release (WSR) requirements. The North Fork became a year-round stream with WSR regulations in effect from 1st of March until the end of November; fly fishing only from April 16 to November 30.

The average escapement for the period 1988 to 1998 was 1,253 fish with all escapements at or above the goal. The "nas" on the table were years where water conditions were such that complete surveys (conducted from early March into June) were not possible (high and turbid conditions). A number of emergency regulation actions were taken in that period. During the winter of 1991/92 adn 1992/93 WSR was instituted beginning on 3/16 (only the maijn river- NF already WSR in March). During the 1993/94 season WSR went into effect on 2/1 (whole basin). For the seasons from 1994/95 to 1997/98 WSR went into effect on 3/1. Also beginning with the 1994/95 season the in-river tribal fishery (Stillaguamsih Tribe) was limited to the month of Decemver (occassionally carrying into the first couple days of January). Bootom lne: even though the seasons during this period were more restrictive than before 1988 the average escapement fell by a third (1,887 to 1,253).

The average escapement for the period 1998/99 to 2000/01 was only 670 adults. Regulation changes in the 1998/99 season inlcuded making the March WSR a permanent regulation (included in the pamphlet) and changes in the summer season. During the summer both the main river and the North Fork became catch and release for all game fish except hatchery steelhead. This incluuded the change to selective gear (single barbless hooks with no bait) on the main river. Again these changes came from the State with little comment during teh public comment period. I'm sure we all remember the emergency regulations for the 2000/01 season (WSR all season with no spring season).

While the change in the summer season may not seem to have a major impact on wild winter steelhed the opposite is the case. A sea-run cuthtroat hooking mortality study conducted in the early 1990s on the Stillaguamish found that for every legal cutthroat caught (at that time a fish over 14 inches) 18 steelhead parr were caught. With bait the hooking mortality on the parr was 35% or more (depending on hook size). This meant that for every legal bait cuaght cutthroat 6 steelhead parr (all wild) died. Who knows how many died during steelhead or salmon sport fisheries. Given typcial survival factors (35 to50% over winter parr to smolt survival and 10% smolt to adult survival) saving a few thousand parr can quickly equal the entire harvest of wild steelhead adults during the winter season. The average catch of unmarked steelhead for the Stillaguamish for the years 1995/96 to 1998/99 (the year available on WDFW's web site) was only 127.

Sorry about the long winded background. Several observations based on the above include:

1) Those "slaves to MSY" aka "the clowns" working for the State have consistently allowed numbers of "harvestable" steelhead to reach the spawning grounds. In fact in the years through 1998 every regulation change has been in favor of the wild fish. Every regulation change in that period originated at the desk of a state biologist. While some may argue that the changes were too little too late the fact remains the wild steelhead escapements at the decision points (in-season emergency changes as well as the permanent changes in 1988 and 1998) were such that it is hard to argue that conservation was being jeopardized. The average escapement in 1988 was nearly 200% of the goal and in 1998 it was 130% of the goal.

2) In spite of a history of reducing harvest pressures on the wild steelhead resource the recent escapements (1999 to 2001) are only 35% of the escapements of those in the mid to late 1980s.

3) Adult escapements in the mid to late 1990s were typiclly between 1,000 and 1,500 fish however the resulting runs produced from these escapements have been less than 1,000 fish. Basically for 3 spawners only 2 adults were being produced.

4) Making rules permanent for what is currently being done on an emergency bases is unlikely to change the population status.

Some opinions:
1) It appears that harvest issues have little to do with the decline of wild winter steelhead in the North Fork Stillaguamish. Declining freshwater habitats adn extremely poor marine survival are the real issues.

2) The recent discussions about CnK verus CnR has been very interesting and hopefully we all have been forced to the issue some thought and learned more about steelhead and the management of steelhead fisheries.

It was especially gratifying to see the number of people involved in the debate. Long term survival of steelehad will depend on the passions of all steelhead anglers regardless of which side they were on regarding this issue.

The distressful aspect of the debate was the issue focused on how to divide fishing impacts - how to slice the impact pie. At the same time the size of the pie has been steadily growing smaller due to non-fishing impacts. Are we going to continue to fight among ourselves over a decreasing resource or step up a address the larger more difficult issues.

Catch and release has been popularly protrayed as a conservation tool. In fact CnR is just a fisheries management tool that allocates fishing impacts; in this case mortalities due to hooking mortality.

May the New Year find your rivers full of wild fish and tight lines to all.

Smalma