Nooksack River Net Rant

From the WDFW website:



Action: A portion of the North Fork Nooksack River will be closed to fishing.

Effective dates: Dec. 1, 2009 until further notice.

Species affected: All gamefish.

Location: The North Fork Nooksack River from the yellow post located at the upstream most corner of the hatchery grounds, approximately 1,000 feet upstream of the mouth of Kendall Creek, downstream to the Mosquito Lake Road Bridge.

Reasons for action: The Kendall Creek Hatchery in recent years has been unable to secure sufficient eggs from returning hatchery winter steelhead to meet basin production goals. Closure of the fishery, similar to last year, is needed to collect sufficient fish to meet egg take needs. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, in support of Hatchery Scientific Review Group recommendations, intends to use locally adapted broodstock to support the Nooksack River winter steelhead hatchery program rather than importing eggs from outside sources.

Other information: When broodstock needs are met, the fishery will reopen as listed in the Sport fishing Rules 2009/2010 pamphlet edition, FISHING IN WASHINGTON

I don't understand why they close of part of the river to sport fishing but where the South Fork of the Nooksack meets up with the flows from the North and Middle Fork there were 5 gill nets in a span of 100 yards. I took the time to send an e-mail to the WDFW but have not gotten a response back yet.

I guess it will just end up eventually the Nooksack being closed for sportfishing while the nets drag out every last fish. Frustrates me that tax dollars go to support the hatchery to just have the fish get netted on their return.

The problem with the Nooksack netting is that the Natives produce most of the fish (coho) that return to the South Fork hatchery so you'll never get them off the river at any time. Granted a big chunk of the money they use to raise those fish comes from the federal government and what not, but that is an entirely different rant. The steelhead netting is a big issue since the stocks are so depressed. The Nooksack is friggin hopeless. I live near the Marine Drive bridge and see the slobbery that takes place down there in the fall. There is still probably about 5 sunk bow pickers near the bank and I called on a derelict about 6 times before it finally disappeared. You might as well take up bass fishing at Lake Terrell if you live in Whatcom county.

I want to know where these fish are sold and for how much? I talked to some Lummi gillnetters and they couldn't even give the silvers away! They were selling them for $2.50/lb and not able to sell all the catch. I guess the chum eggs were more profitable. All the while the tribe is getting grants to support the "fishermen" through loans to buy new boats and gear. I don't have the numbers in front of me but it would probably cost less to subsidize the lost income of the netter (pay them not to net) and still produce enough fish for ceremonial and recreational fishing. I haven't seen the numbers but it almost sounds like the act of netting these fish is actually a loss of money when the hatchery rearing costs are considered with the subsidies currently given to the tribal netters for gear and gas. I costs millions to raise these fish, how much is the harvest worth. It sounds like a wealth redistribution racket whereby the $ is laundered through the ocean into the netters pocket.

To be fare, every hatchery fish has a price tag. What benefit to the local economy would a strong recreational fishery have and who would benefit? At least when the fish are harvested and sold there is an apples to apples comparison.

stick,

I'm sure you could find them at Barlean's Seafoods, just off of Slater. I'd actually be curious to know how many the netters have been getting.

"It could probably cost less to subsidize the lost income of the netter..."

You have that one 100% correct but they don't seem to want to be bought out. If they did, I'd be supportive of the State spending as much as it would take for a permanent buyout. They don't want it.

Yep, the tribes on the nooksack make the best of their nets. This october I took a local WDFW employee and local fishing guide down the nooksack from nuggents corner all the way out to the mouth past marietta. This was a NON netting day and i believe we counted something like 30 nets. This was a combination of active, still currently fishing nets and derelict nets. The majority of the active nets were from around the slater rd. bridge down to the mouth. (The skummis). The majority of the derelict nets were closer to Nuggents corner (The nutsacks)

It was amazing to see the amount of nets below the marietta bridge. There is also a massive 'logjam' just downstream of the bridge that bottlenecks the entire nooksack down into an 8' wide chute. I say 'logjam' because its looks like nature had a little help unless dimensional lumber and construction material grow in the river in large amounts. And not to my surprise, there were nets across both the chute and logjam.

We got pictures of all the nets and GPS locations and turned them in to higher ups and the WDFW. If it would make believers out of people I'll post the pics up here with permission from the moderators.

Only good news, there's so little fish left in the sack right now those netters aren't getting very many. I just PRAY they make sure those native steelies get up the crik okay. The few that are left are truly a gorgeous looking strain of fish.

Nooksack___LEAVE IT BE>>>>>

I don't follow...... 'leave it be' sounds like a great way to lose out on another fishery. Cause there is still 1 left in that river

Mitch,

I'd like to see those pics. Like I said I live near the Marietta bridge and I always thought that the tribe was only allowed to net upriver from the bridge. I have called to check the netting schedule in the past to see when the river closed and drove down an hour after the closure to see nets being drug through the river and the Lummi's slapping the water to spook fish into their nets. Nobody seems to care.

Stick,
You're right, no one seems to care enough and the slummis have a really good lawyer it seems. Alot of pics and evidence have been pushed to the wayside for stupid reasons. To the best of my knowledge, they were not allowed to net below the bridge. I'm not 100% sure and have yet to get a straight answer. But..... there is a pic of the the Slummi Tribal Enforcement fishing guy standing on the bridge smoking a cig while in the background they are setting nets below the bridge which I believe is illegal. He's got full uniform and everything. And yes, the slapping of the water be the banks and even using seal bombs to lure fish into the nets. Real ethical.

And although the senseless raping of the river just kills me. It also just shows how lazy and disrespectful they are to our resources. We found so many beer cans, liquor bottle, leftover food, garbage and other misc. crap on the river. At every set net we found a pile of garbage and some sort of alcoholic beverage container. This is NOT an exaggeration by any means, I actually wish it was. There are pictures and i will post them as soon as i get an okay and some time to shrink them all down. The amount of garbage below marietta is astonishing. Broken down cars, truck, boats and little tent camps strewn with garbage.

The worst part about it is what they actually do with the catch. If they don't get enough to deem it 'worth their time' they simply leave the fish to rot on the banks or in the boat and continue to get plastered drunk. Then... if it is 'worth their time' they don't bleed, gut or even actually take the time to kill the fish. Just straight in the back of the pickup bed and the fish are left to suffocate to death in the back.

I still remember the time I pulled up to the light at the Guide Meridian and Telegraph rd. to turn south on the guide. Pulled right in behind a little compast 2wd red pickup truck that was grossly overloaded with LIVE COHO SALMON in the bed. The fish pile was over the top of the bed. Then the light turned green and the truck turned left onto the guide. As soon as the truck turned the fish began flying out of the bed. Within seconds, literally 2 dozen LIVE COHO SALMON were flopping around everywhere on the guide meridian underneath the I5 bridge. The 2 indians just looked behind and kept driving. Leaving all the fish.

Did you pick up the fish sean?

Sean, your eye witness accounts are exactly the type of [censored] I have seen for years.

One of my favorite spots to sling a Vibrax for coho is right around the Marietta bridge so I have seen it all and it is so much worse than people can imagine. It has been like that since I was young and would fish that area with my dad. It has been like that for as long as my life.

It is like a stereotype on steroids. It has to be seen to be believed. All the the things you hear times ten. It is amazing that the fish aren't even more fucked up than they are.

As long as nothings done about it, they WILL NOT change.

I've pulled more than a few nets, most had dead and rotting salmon & steelhead. Whole thing is just SAD!!!!!

Mitch, please post or pm pics.

Goes on all over Puget Sound, everyone has just turned a blinds eye to it as the perception is "there is nothing we can do to stop it"

if you have a video camera use it and get this stuff on record.
then post it on YouTube for the world to see and anywhere else you can think of.
you can do your own news report with sound and all.
If they try and stop you, call the local sheriff.
you have the right to be there.
post pics on light poles buildings anywhere you can.
if these slimballs are exposed to the light of day things might change.

Some guys are organizing a river clean up in a few weeks, date TBD. PM me if you are interested. We can at least do our part to show that the rec. angler is concerned about cleaning up after themselves.

Alright, heres a link to a photobucket site i just made for the pics. This will have to work until i figure out how to post pics in the actual forum.

http://s761.photobucket.com/albums/xx255/mitch184/Illegal%20Nooksack%20Tribal%20Nets/

I got a call back from Brett Barkdull at the WDFW. He said that last year the sportfishers on the Nooksack caught 89 steelhead while the people that were netting only caught 10. He did say "at times communication has been poor with the tribal fishers". He explained the lack of enforcement is due to there only being two WDFW officers working 40 hour work weeks to enfore all of the freshwater regulations. For Area 7 in the salt water there is only two guys based out of Bellingham and one new guy based out of Anacortes. Brett did say that the situation does suck but the tribal people have the right to net Dec 15 through January 15 five days a week. Supposively there there is only one guy working the upper part of the river with three guys working the lower part of the river. I do have to say that Brett was a very nice and receptive of my questions.

At this point it is hard to figure out what to do to try and make things better. There is not any money to hire more people to do more enforement so people will just continue to do whatever they please.

Like others have said, we need to document what we see and foward it on to the WDFW.



I would be careful on pulling nets. I know a guy that was pulling one out of the river and got a few "warning" shots fired over his head.

If anyone else would like to contact Brett here is his information.

Brett Barkdull, 360-466-4345 ext. 270 barkdbcb@dfw.wa.gov

What was the name of the WDFW employee that you took and what was their responce to what they saw?

But does

"...the people that were netting only caught 10"

+

"at times communication has been poor with the tribal fishers"

=

netters only REPORTED catching 10...?

Gabe, first of all, thanks for the follow up.



Are you fooking kidding me? What a load of [censored]!

OMG! I'd laugh if I wasn't so offended.

I feel the same way. That is why I asked about the enforcement and then was told about the "poor communication".

Gabe, the reason they only 'said' they caught 10 is cause thats probably all they reported. The tribes up here are notorious for not claiming and being extremely difficult to get counts from.

And yes, these pics are from the coho season. I have seen many of the same nets still there up till a few weeks ago but didn't have the camera to snap any pics. If you wanna see the real situation float from the mosquito lake bridge down to deming. You'll see the madness right now. I have buddies who have been floating it regularly and know for a fact they've got more than 10 so far this year.

Hi,

The Nooksack Tribe and Lummi Nation have hotlines with current tribal fishing schedules.

If you believe there has been a violation or if you see abandoned gear, call WDFW or tribal enforcement officers.

Lummi hotline: 360-384-2252. Lummi enforcement: 360-384-2266

Nooksack hotline: 360-592-5140. Nooksack enforcement: 360-592-9065

Kari

It looks like the Lummi's will have a nice new piece of commercial real estate to sell their netted fish.

Federal grant boosts Lummi Nation's Gateway Center $1.6 million
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1225004.html

At least we may now have public place to protest if that is your thing.

Thanks, Kari--

Contacts enabling one to lodge a complaint with appropriate authorities have been sorely needed in this thread. Have printed and will add to my cell.

I've occasionally met what I consider "responsible" Nooksack netters, who have shaken their heads and pointed at other nets and indicated frustration that those nets haven't been checked in days.

IMHO, rapid derelict net cleanup should be more of a priority than pursuing fishing violations--but will reporting derelict nets in-season really lead to cleanup?

--mja

Kari thank you for the information. When calling the hotlines what type of information must be provided to the tribal authorities? What else can a person do for example, if the don't have GPS coordinates to provide? What currently are the tribes doing on the enforcement side?

Karl,
Thanks for the info. What happens when derelict nets are brought to the attention of the tribe but nothing is done to remove them? Who else, besides that tribe, has the authority to remove them?

Further up the thread there was a question regarding if the Lummis were allowed to net down river of the Marine Drive Bridge. The guys in the article below tend to think it is legal.

http://americadiversityplace.com/OtherSections/ChroniclesoftheWelcomeTable.aspx

Still about 5 derelict nets from Highway 9 to Nugent's Corner. It isn't like they are even hard to see. There is simply no excuse for the tribe not cleaning up their own shlt.

Those derelict nets should start "fishing" sometime on Thursday when the water goes up.

AP--

Didja call it in? Call it in!

--mja

I talked to a woman at the 592-9065 Nooksack Enforcement number. They transferred me to a man named Tree(?). He seemed interested in what I had to say and wrote down the location of the nets. He also indicated that they were hoping to do a "stream survey" from their jet boat in the next couple of days. It sounded like the purpose of that trip was a general look at the river and to see how it has changed since the last survey.

In regards to the nets, he said that he was unaware and that they have to wait for "windows of low water" to find and remove the nets. I told him that they've been exposed for weeks and that we've actually just gone through a giant window of low flows that are about to end. He said that his main problem is having staff and operations people to actually do the work.

All in all, he was courteous and seemed interested in fixing the problem but I have to say that it would be much better if they were proactive on their own. It would take someone with a knife about 4 minutes per location to fix the problem.

-AP

You should see if they'll deputize you AP You're a crack shot with that 45 and pretty good at cavity searches from what I have heard. How those things relate to abandoned nets, I am not quite sure.

Nicely done, and nicely reported, AP. Have you forwarded to WDFW?

Forget the knife. Pack the camera. The Seattle Times provides a lot of online digital content these days...

A piece of good news for a change...

I received an e-mail from a friend at the County that said the nets have been removed. Apparently, the Nooksack Tribe played a roll in the removal. For future reference, they said the nets have IDs tags linking them to individual tribal fishermen. If you see a net you can take that number down, note the location, and they'll know exactly whose net it is.

A big thanks to the anonymous County employee for taking the extra time and effort to work on this.



-AP

Glad to hear this, Aaron!

Nice job!

Epic Win! Thanks for taking the time. I think it might be time for a river cleanup pretty soon focusing on the middle stretch of the main stem. It would be nice to do it before the river spills this spring.

Nice work AP!

+1

The fish send their thanks

Thank you on behalf of all 'Sackers. Now if we could get more fishermen to contribute to the restoration of the Nooksack we might not have to travel so far to fish...

Here is a start.

Spring Work Party Schedule!!



All work parties are held on Saturdays from 9AM until 12PM (unless otherwise noted). Tools and gloves are provided. Refreshments are provided by The Bagelry, Starbucks Coffee, the Community Food Co-op, Erin Baker's Wholesome Baked Goods, and Tony's Coffee. Please wear sturdy shoes and weather-appropriate clothing. Bring your enthusiasm, your friends and family, and anyone else who wants to help!

March 6th - Whatcom Creek

March 13th - Bells Creek

March 20th - Squalicum Creek

March 27th - Connelly Creek

April 10th - Terrell Creek

April 17th - Whatcom Creek

April 24th - Terrell Creek

May 1st - NSEA Nursery


For more information, including directions, check out the full listing of NSEA Community Work Parties on our website.

Questions? Contact Volunteer Coordinator, Lindsay Taylor, at (360) 715-0283 x 112 or email ltaylor@n-sea.org.

Thanks for the update, AP! Take a bow!

Good job Erin......looks like the tribe finally pulled there head out of there pooper long enough to do something good for a change.

Tim

Yeah too bad they just lost all their Karma points with that ugly A$$ blinding sign next to the freeway. Things won't get any better on the river or in the salt now that we (the taxpayers) just gave them $1.6 million to build a "fish market" off the freeway.

I concur. How is that big turd of a sign justified? Do they really think the olympics are going to bring in the kind of revenue to pay that thing off?
What's this 1.6 mil fish market you speak of? do I need to start reading the paper more often?

Federal grant boosts Lummi Nation's Gateway Center $1.6 million
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1225004.html

Ignorance is bliss....I'm so disgusted I could shlt.
$65 usd gets you a steelhead preservation stamp for the BC rivers. That's most likely where I'll be fishing due to the early close of the Skag/Sauk.

The 'Sack will close on Thursday, too...better head up to Blaine and get that BC license now.

Fish on...

Todd

Where did you see that?? I haven't seen anything about early closures yet.

Look at the post I just made half an hour ago re: Rest of Puget Sound streams to close early...the press release should go out tonight.

Fish on...

Todd

Dang it

Indeed.

Fish on...

Todd

Hopefully this early closure will bring an even greater tribal harvest next winter. Yeah for the Lummis! We wouldn't want our C&R to interfere with future smokeshop funding on the reservation.

I believe this is being addressed now.

Just reading this gets me a little "ANGRY." Can't imagine if i actually fished it ...and observed it..seems if WDFW already knows about what is goin on..they have no legal options at the time.

I think they are trying and helping all they can.