Straighten up and fly right...

Last night at the WB Advisory meeting, it was revealed that staff walking a newly opened area of the Naselle River last fall VISUALLY confirmed 24 belly-gutted WILD chinook.... the eggs stripped and the remaining carcasses laid to waste.

That anything like this even happens within our ranks is obscene and puts a black eye on the entire rec community.

This act is particularly egregious because WFWC/WDFW are desperately trying to rebuild this horribly depleted stock of natural origin chinook, and to date, have yet to meet a bare-bones escapement goal.

Now, some may say, "BFD, it's only 24 hens... what could it possibly hurt?" Well when the entire river is producing an estimated 500-900 natural-origin chinook... 40% of which are estimated to be hens.... those 24 stripped fish could represent nearly one out of eight hens in the escapement. THAT'S HUGE!

Think about this.... at a conservative fecundity of 4000 eggs per hen, that's nearly 100,000 natural-origin eggs. That's an entire conservation hatchery program worth of wild brood!

The most disturbing part about this wastage is that it represents actual observed wild hens stripped of eggs. How many were not seen? How many dragged off by other critters out of sight?

This is a BIG deal folks. And it's only compounded by the illegal snagging, trespassing, and uncollected garbage complaints voiced by local landowners.

The advisors worked very hard to open up access to these reaches in the name of enhanced recreational opportunity. This is not what we intended for our hard-won efforts.

HEED THIS.... the rec community partaking of this expanded freshwater chinook opportunity is being put on notice!

STRAIGHTEN UP and fly right, folks.... or the agency has no other recourse but to close these areas to fishing. Hopefully, peer pressure alone will be sufficient to resolve this issue. If not, the consequences are pretty clearcut.

No offense Doc, but "our ranks; a black eye on me / us and straighten up"?

Excuse me, but I'm a sportsman, not a poacher.

If what you say happened, that's poaching and it's already against the law and I'm pretty sure both you and the State knows this. It's law enforcement's job to manage now, not ours. I'm unclear as to why, you of all people, would confuse recreational sportsmanship with poaching? You might as well come here and tell us to not murder people because someone else committed one today. We know not to commit murder dad - but thanks?

I get what you are trying to say, but some of your message gets lost when you lump myself and the other fine folks on this board in with scum poachers. I would prefer you didn't do that. Thank you,

just business as usual for some folks. see it everywhere unfortunately. not like they have a lot of incentive to stop with the sparse enforcement, either.

curious what access was "opened" down there...nothing listed on WDFW's website, and the last trip i took down that way i saw more "posted" signs and even worse, closed gates on the logging roads i used to drive up...

this kind of bs goes on everywhere

To be honest the Rec had little or nothing to do with this. First the river had been flooded with hatchery fish for years creating a opening for abuse and as in all things there are those that do things like that. If the river was closed it would go on regardless, in fact I imagine that it even makes it more difficult for poachers the river being open. So again this had zip nada not a damn thing to do with the Rec fishers but rather bandits running a muck as they have for years minus enforcement.

Now what I find amazing is that the agency even was aware let alone see it. If it was enforcement that found them that would be a seismic shift as it had to be near a road! If the redd counters that is good sign.

Sure - get recreational anglers off the river.

That will make life even easier on poachers who gut hens for the eggs.

Brilliant.

Apologies Doc - I had a horribly long work week. Like 18 hour days and I was a bit tired and pissy.

My point was...once a person poaches, even if they originally come from the rec community, then they belong to a new community. Ipso facto criminal poachers by definition. When we fish or hunt, we have all of the needed equipment to actually perform poaching, but we don't because of morals. Walking the line is the legal & ethical difference between a Sportsman and a scum Poacher.

Sad.
Obviously some missed the point.
WDFW can suck the eggs out of hens and waste them without even zipping the fish open.

I have personally watched a transaction at a popular local tackle shop involving a client who was talking BS about "what popular jig colors are" while his hands were full of coils of lead and HUGE treble hooks. Then after answering his questions, the sales associate sold him the lead and treble hooks.

I then asked the sales associate, "you do know he's just going to snag..."

The answer I received was, "well yeah, but we have a business to run."

So really, I think all of us need to take a long (depressed) look at ourselves because we are all to blame in one way or another. (From my examples, I still made a purchase at this particular shop even after I witnessed that transaction. I should have walked out but I didn't.)

It's a real sad state of affairs. I think we as a community need to do what Doc is doing and bring these offenses to light. The more people are aware of it, the more people will get upset about it and will work to make a change.

But you cant just sit back and say, "I'm not one of those poachers/litterers/snaggers/etc." and then be surprised when fisheries are shut down. It's important to know the story.

I absolutely agree with the value of making the story known. That said, I also agree that to lay the guilt on the generally law abiding recreational fishing community is using far too broad a brush.

This was not an inadvertent violation nor even an intentional but minor violation such as being a few clams over the limit. This was an intentional, fairly significant poaching/wastage event and quite possibly for commercial use.

It's a sound management plan that has proven it's brilliance on Puget Sound steelhead.



p.s. Where's that damn "like" button??

Noble effort Doc.

Sure the message was meant for "them" not "us," but "they" lurk here and we run into them on the river and elsewhere. Perhaps through visibility and awareness some of them may get the message as Doc intended it.

Poachers suck.

Doc has a good point to be sure but frankly it is not the problem but how the problem is addressed by the agency. So think of it this way. 10 folks are busted for over limit AND wastage on the beach clam digging. Now are all the clam diggers rotten pond scum? Should we address the problem by closing Rec clam digging because of the few? When a Commercial is busted for not using a recovery box do you dump on all the commercials and shut them down?

Even in the Willapa and Grays Harbor policy this goes on. Not make escapement 3 out of 5 years limited harvest so limited impacts for fishers. But wait it was WDF&W that set the season that failed but you then punish the fisher who had zip just nothing to do with the decisions the caused it. Willapa the nets go over the limits so they are sorta / kinda give it back but again wait they only fished just as WDF&W said to why are they being punished it was WDF&W who screwed the pooch!

So when you have a issue such as poaching one would think I would sympathize with them and again NO. I can show you problem after problem with poaching that I and others addressed in a simple manner with little Rec dislocation and staff over 30 years refused to address them and still refuse other than running around with their hair on fire. This is followed by " oh my god poaching shut the inriver Rec down "

So our problem with poaching in many streams is the result of the steady and continuing erosion of faith by citizens that they will be treated fairly and equitably. In the case of Willapa and the unbelievable bias against the Rec fisher has led to really bad place in the fairness thing for many folks in that area. This problem was and continues to be a direct result of past and present conduct of WDF&W staff.

Hey, Rivrguy, I think you hit a good idea (Blind squirrel/nut sort of thing). On GH and WB, if escapement is not hit the Regional Fish Program Manager gets a week off for each time/stock if the overage was the fault of NI. If it was the fault of the Tribes then the Fish Program Manager gets the week.