Sport anglers angry at tribe over gillnets

LEWISTON, Idaho — Sport anglers upset with the Nez Perce Tribe in northern Idaho for opening a gillnetting season on the Snake and Clearwater rivers say they are considering protests and boycotts of the tribe’s casinos.

“There are a lot of people upset about the idea of there being gillnets in the Snake and Clearwater,” said Jason Hollibaugh, vice chairman of the Clearwater Chapter of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife. “There are going to be jet boat operators and guides that are not going to like what that is going to do to their businesses. And regular sportsmen and anglers are upset because it’s an unfair take and also going to indiscriminately kill hundreds of native steelhead.”

The tribe announced Tuesday it had started a commercial gillnetting season and was offering up to 20 commercial gillnetting permits to tribal members.

The season is set to run Mondays through Fridays until Jan. 11, and could be followed by another season that would run through mid-April.

The tribe authorized the season on the Snake River from the Lower Granite Dam in Washington state upstream to the Hells Canyon Dam on the Idaho-Oregon border. On the Clearwater, the season would be from the mouth upstream to about Orofino Bridge.

Joe Oatman, a member of the Nez Perce Fish and Wildlife Commission, said the tribe wants to set up meetings to explain its reasons for the gillnetting seasons and show its conservation record.

“The tribe would be pretty disappointed that people continue to hold the view that the tribe and its intent for this fishery will significantly disrupt and put people out of business,” he said. “That is something we don’t anticipate would be the end result from what amounts to our test fishery.”

The tribe, as part of an 1855 treaty it signed in exchange for giving up land, has a right to 50 percent of the harvestable fish within the reservation and from off-reservation fishing areas, but traditionally has not taken its share of steelhead.

This season, that would be 61,000 steelhead, though Oatman said it’s unlikely the tribe will come near to catching that many.

“I don’t think the tribe will get anywhere near what the tribe is entitled to in terms of harvest,” he told the Lewiston Tribune.

Hatchery and wild steelhead swim up the Columbia and Snake rivers in the fall from the Pacific Ocean, then spend the winter in the Clearwater and Snake rivers before moving again in the spring, with hatchery fish going to hatcheries and wild fish to spawning areas.

The Clearwater and Snake — favored among sport steelhead anglers — have a surplus of hatchery steelhead for fishing. But wild Snake River steelhead are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and sport anglers must release them unharmed.

The tribe has said it will develop a market for the steelhead it catches. But Hollibaugh doubted that market exists.

“Steelhead really have no commercial value at this point in their lives,” he said. “They are really only good for cat food and lawn fertilizer on a commercial standpoint. What is the real value of endangering the native steelhead runs for something as insignificant as that?”

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order halting work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.