The Queets River is located on the northern Washington coast, flowing out of the Olympic National Park. Much of the river system has its sport fishing regulations set by the National Park Service. However, the State has a joint responsibility for establishing key steelhead harvest and stock management parameters in conjunction with the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN).

The Park Service has, for the last 10+, years limited sport harvest of steelhead to a greater degree than on other coastal rivers supporting healthy runs of wild steelhead. The out come of this has not been increasing runs of wild steelhead. (Review the data on the statistics pages) The QIN has conducted net fisheries that have consistently taken more than their share of the surplus steelhead. This needs to end.

There are two issues clouding one another on the Queets. One is the escapement goal and the other is the sharing of wild steelhead surplus to the escapement goal.

The original methodology developed by the State set the escapement goal at 4200 wild winter-run steelhead. The QIN has never accepted that goal. In the last several years this has become a major issue in the annual planning process between the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the QIN. The QIN has argued for an escapement goal of 2500. While it is generally acknowledged that the original methodology was likely on the high side of the true goal to produce the court ordered Maximum Sustained Yield (MSY), we feel that the QIN position of 2500 is clearly too low. We feel that an escapement goal in the mid to upper 3000's would be an appropriate compromise.

The second issue is holding the QIN to 50% of the harvestable surplus (surplus = total run - escapement goal). The QIN has consistently argued for net schedules that exceed 50% of the surplus. The QIN seems to believe that they do not need to leave 50% of the surplus in the river for sport anglers. Negotiators report that this is in part due to the QIN's assertion that they leave "enough" fish in the river to support a Wild Steelhead Release fishery. While the QIN position may seem outrageous, there is a legal principal of foregone opportunity that may apply. Simply stated, if one party does not elect to take its share of the surplus, the other party, in some circumstances, may be allowed to harvest the entire balance of the surplus.

One final aspect of this issue is that the WDFW and the QIN interact and negotiate on the harvest of a number of species - chinook, coho, dear, elk, shellfish, etc. We believe that there has been some reluctance to fully pursue a satisfactory solution to this issue because of other resource issues the WDFW and QIN face. We do not want steelhead fishing opportunities traded away for clams or possums or anything else.

Regardless of your position on wild steelhead harvest and wild steelhead release, all steelhead angling opportunities for sport anglers in the Queets River system are being negatively impacted by this issue. Additionally, if the QIN is going to continue to be allowed to fish under foregone opportunity principals, that information is critical to policy makers as they shape our future fisheries. Please act now by writing Jeffery Keonings, Director of WDFW. We have provided a form letter that you can e-mail to him. However, a more effective course would be to write an original letter. We have made available a copy of our standard letter in Word format that you can down load, edit and either e-mail or send by snail mail. Protect our fishing opportunities by sending a message to the Director today.

Review e-mail to Director Keonings

Open Standard Letter to Director Keonings for printing

If you choose to compose and send your own letters, the contact information for Director Keonings is provided below.

Mailing Address: Jeffery Keonings, Director Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capital Way N
Olympia, WA 98501-1091

E-mail address: director@dfw.wa.gov