Minor Cycle Fishing Regulation Proposals
Proposal package available for comment, comments due 12/30/11, Public Testimony will be taken at January 6&7 commission meeting.
See news item for 10/25 for more info.
Fight the WDFW Merger
UPDATE:
Many of us made our voices heard. House Bill 1850 died. Senate bill 5669 lives on in ammended form. SSB5669 was sweetened by retaining the Commissions regulatory powers. However, they would have a very limited role in determinimg and overseeing the head of the new, merged agency.
Be ready to take further action when this comes up later in the session. Collectively, we can stop this. Even sweetened, it is a bad deal.
Final Update - SSB5669 Died, finally, with the special session (5/25).
More Soon...
1/10/2012 Upper Tokul Creek Opens Early
The WDFW has opened the section of Tokul Creek from the bridge upstream to the deadline marker early, effective January 7th. The Tokul Creek hatchery has met its broodstock needs. Fishing in Tokul Creek will close Feb.16th.
Get the details - WDFW Emergency Regulation
1/10/2012 Puget Sound and SJDF Rivers to Close Early
“Again this year many streams are closing early to protect weak wild stocks from incidental impacts. Most of the streams effected will close on Feb. 1, with some hatchery terminal areas open to Feb. 15. The Puyallup River system will close on January 16th. The WDFW is considering making these season changes permanent.
Get the details - WDFW News Release
1/10/12 - Catching up on some recent news........
--- BC Salmon Virus Saga Continues ---
More Salmon Test Positive for virus
The Province The Seattle Times
Did BC Officials Already Know and for How Long ?
The Seattle PI
Cohen Comission Looks into Virus Issue
Check Alaxander Morton's Blog for all the news - permanent link above.
Snohomish PUD's Sunset Falls Hydro Project Draws Negative Response
“Salmon and Steelhead using the WDFW's Sunset Falls fish passage facility to access the upper South Fork of the Skykomish River make up a significant portion of the Snohomish River System runs. Anglers should be concerned about the project's potential impacts.
Feedback at a recent public meeting was a bit negative - Everett Herald Article
Snohomish PUD posts more FAQ's - SNOPUD Sunset Falls FAQ Page
10/25/2011 Sport Fishing Regulation Changes
“Minor Cycle” regulation package is out for comment. Focus is conservation. Generally speaking, limiting impacts to ESA listed wild steelhead, additional protections for trout (probable response to growing body of evidence that resident trout play a significant role in wild steelhead production) and “"closed unless stated open"” format moves to the coast. Earlier closures in Puget Sound/Strait of Juan de Fuca Streams (with hatchery bubble areas), more areas go selective rules for trout, steelhead closure on upper Dickey, South fork Toutle to close March 15th, selective gear rules for many/most/all of the coastal independents (Goodman, Mosquito, Cedar…....) Comments due December 30th, Public testimony to be taken at the January 6-7 Commission meeting. Some regional information/discussion meetings in the evenings this week -10/25 Mill Creek, 10/26 Olympia, 10/27 Spokane.
LINK
10/25/11 Open Net Pen Fish Farms:
A lot has been going on lately:
B.C. Infectious Salmon Anemia Outbreak in Wild Stocks
Vancouver Sun Article
U.S. Senators Seek New Study of Deadly Salmon Virus
Seattle Times
Large Open Net Pen Salmon Farm Planned for Strait of Juan de Fuca
If you have not been following this topic - net pen diseases, sea lice, predation, B.C.'’s Cohen Commission - you might want to catch up:
Alexandra Morton's Blog –
Salmon Farm Diseases and Sockeye Video (4/5 - 15 min.)
One of the problems that does not get as much attention is predation -– migrating juvenile salmon and steelhead can enter these pens and be eaten. Lights tend to be left on at night at these facilities, which attracts these fish. Not good and difficult to document.
Perhaps this outbreak will actually get something done about open net pens,– if it is not already too late. One has to wonder if the net pens are not part of the problem with steelhead in Puget Sound/Salish Sea. Closed containment systems are becoming viable and the industry really does need to move on.
10/25/11 Elwha Dam Removal Progress
Crews have re-routed flow at Elwha dam to a new channel on the west side of the dam.
Peninsula Daily News
The NPS has an interesting blog to chronicle the progress of the dam removal projects (check out the time lapse video).
NPS Dam Removal Blog
Web cams of 6 different stations are also available
Dam Removal Web Cams
10/25/11 SnoPud Eyes South Fork Skykomish for Hydro
A run-of-the-river hydro project is (once again) being evaluated at Sunset Falls on the SF Sky - 30MW capacity, 25,000 cfs diversion.
STCW had a representative attend one of the informational meetings last week. Public opposition seems to be quite high, time frame is a ways out there, 8-10 years, they have barely started any environmental assessments. Stated focus at this point is tapping high winter flows, reduction to diversion down to 10-20% during summer.
The STCW is particularly interested in this river reach, as we are trying to lauch a study of the Wild Summer Run Steelhead in the SF Sky. This basin is an important producer of both salmon and steelhead and is being managed for wild fish above the trap and haul facility at Sunset Falls.
Sunset Falls Hydro - SnoPDU
Additional comemnts will be taken through the end of the month on the Snider Creek hatchery program on the Sol Duc river. The program features fish reared fron wild native broodstock and is operated by the Olympic Peninsula Guides Association. The Steelhead Trout Club of Washington is supporting a 12 year extension of the program with a focus on data collection, and has pledged finacial support to help with enhanced data collection and improvements to facilities and practices.
A recent check of snow pack (actually total water stored in the snow pack -Snow Water Equivalent - SWE) of Washington watersheds shows good things. As the Sprign run-off season begins, SWE levels are running well ahead of last year and markedly above normal. Many basins are showing substantial increases for this point in the season over last year (a generally below average year except for the Olympic Peninsula) and an improvement over average. While it may mean delays in getting into high mountain lakes and for rivers to drop into prime summer fly fishing conditions, it is good news for steelhead.
One factor impacting freshwater survival of juvenile steelhead is snow pack and its impacts on Summer water quality and flows. Last year the Cascades and Eastern Washington watersheds were below long run averages for SWE. This year some basins are at more than twice normal. Even the basins with the lowest SWE accumulations relative to normal are well up from last year and above normal. Some examples:
Basin % of last year % of Normal
Upper Yakima River 169% 119%
Methow River 160% 124%
White River 117% 118%
Green River 264% 119%
Skagit River 164% 128%
Skykomish River 179% 132%
A summary of all Washington Basins as of May 1.
A series of graphs for each of the listed stations showing total accumulated precipitation for the water year and SWE. Covers about 7 years and compares each to average .
Water Hole (Northern OP)
Dungeness (A very dry station)
Stevens Pass (A Skykomish station)
Statewide Table
Water Hole Graphs
Dungeness Graphs
Stevens Pass Graphs
A Seattle Times article on some new thinking on flood control techniques that may also improve flood plane function and habitat, and be better for fish.
Seattle Times Article on Flood Control
A study published in the journal Molecular Ecology found that up to 40% of wild steelhead genes are from resident wild rainbows. The study performed by OSU on the Hood River also found that hatchery origin resident trout (from residulizing hatchery smolts) are likely to only provide 1% of the genes to wild steelhead.
From the abstract: In order to increase the size of declining salmonid populations, supplementation programmes intentionally release fish raised in hatcheries into the wild. Because hatchery-born fish often have lower fitness than wild-born fish, estimating rates of gene flow from hatcheries into wild populations is essential for predicting the fitness cost to wild populations. Steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) have both freshwater resident and anadromous (ocean-going) life history forms, known as rainbow trout and steelhead, respectively. Juvenile hatchery steelhead that ‘residualize’ (become residents rather than go to sea as intended) provide a previously unmeasured route for gene flow from hatchery into wild populations. We apply a combination of parentage and grandparentage methods to a three-generation pedigree of steelhead from the Hood River, Oregon, to identify the missing parents of anadromous fish. For fish with only one anadromous parent, 83% were identified as having a resident father while 17% were identified as having a resident mother. Additionally, we documented that resident hatchery males produced more offspring with wild anadromous females than with hatchery anadromous females. One explanation is the high fitness cost associated with matings between two hatchery fish. After accounting for all of the possible matings involving steelhead, we find that only 1% of steelhead genes come from residualized hatchery fish, while 20% of steelhead genes come from wild residents. A further 23% of anadromous steelhead genes come from matings between two resident parents. If these matings mirror the proportion of matings between residualized hatchery fish and anadromous partners, then closer to 40% of all steelhead genes come from wild trout each generation. These results suggest that wild resident fish contribute substantially to endangered steelhead ‘populations’ and highlight the need for conservation and management efforts to fully account for interconnected Oncorhynchus mykiss life histories.
Read about it:
Oregon State Study
In developing a new Shoreline Master Plan, Jefferson County has been told that they can no longer ban open net pen aquaculture.
Net pens have been banned in Jefferson County since 1979. However, Washington Department of Ecology has told Jefferson County that they must allow net pens as part of the updated Shorline Master Plan. Ecology, appearantly, does not believe that there is evidence that there are any negative impacts from net pens.
Read about it: Here
The Fish and Wildlife Commission has issued a statement outlining their concerns about the proposed merger with other state agencies as proposed in SB 5669.
Last fall, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Ruled that logging road runoff was not exempt from the Clean Water Act. Sediment discharge into our rivers is one of the most pervasive negative impacts to steelhead in the NW. Increased sediment levels are strongly correlated with logging road densities in a watershed. Relatively small changes in fine sediment levels can significantly reduce egg-to-fry survival.
Link: Crag Law
Earlier this year, the annual opening date for wild steelhead retention was changed from Dec. 1 to Feb.16 on eight rivers with fisheries for wild steelhead. (Bogachiel, Calawah, Clearwater, Dickey, Hoh, Quillayute, Quinault and Sol Duc rivers.)
The move, championed by various segments of the sport angling community, is intended to help protect the early-return portion of the wild run.
Sadly, as with many of the conservation measures borne by sport anglers, no commensurate action is being taken by the tribes (i.e. gillnet mesh size reductions, selective harvest techniques).
Further, some studies indicate that early returning wild winter-run steelhead are tributary spawners, as opposed to main-stem spawners. Given the relatively poorer shape of some of the spawning tributaries in the affected systems, and the lack of tribal participation, the benefits anticipated by this regulation change may be a long time in coming.
Link: WDFW News Release
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