The recreational salmon fishing community reacted with understandable outrage over the recent announcement that Makah tribal fishermen took 19,559 chinook during their October-April winter troll fishery.
Managers of the fishery had expected a yield of just 1,100 chinook in Marine Area 4B (Neah Bay) and 500 in areas 5 and 6 (Sekiu to Port Angeles).
Phil Anderson, special assistant to the director of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said the fishery in question was set up as a “season,” and did not include a specific “quota.”
Harvest predictions for the season were based on a six-year average, Anderson said, and there was no reason to believe the commercial take would differ substantially from historic norms. He said tribal fisheries personnel monitored the catch and were aware the catch rate was going to be high, but found no breach of Endangered Species Act ceilings, and decided to continue to fish.
“I’m sure they did not set out maliciously to take someone else’s fish away from them,” Anderson said.
In the future, Anderson said, it’s possible the fishery’s accounting “will be based on something other than the six-year average.”
A joint tribal-state technical review of the results of the fishery indicated a catch of 94 percent hatchery or non-threatened native stocks. Impacts on ESA-protected Puyallup River and Hood Canal chinook were low, in the 4- to 5-percent range, the state said.
If recreational chinook seasons this summer are impacted by the Makah fishery – and that may or may not be the case, Anderson said – it most likely would take place off the coast, on fish headed for the Columbia River and containing threatened Snake River fall chinook.
Anderson said no predictions on the impact of this fishery can be made until all the state’s preseason run forecasts have been put together for the start of “North of Falcon” season-setting negotiations, which are scheduled to begin in March.
“Of course people are upset,” Anderson said, “and if our seasons this summer turn out to be restrictive, some will point, probably erroneously, to the Makah fishery as the problem.”
Department spokesman Doug Williams in Olympia said it’s simply too early in this year’s salmon picture to come to any conclusions.
“The questions sport fishermen are asking are good questions, and they deserve to be addressed,” Williams said. “They will be addressed, but it’s simply too early. The data just isn’t there yet to be able to sort out the situation.”
So remember that, anglers. Some time this summer, the state has promised you an explanation of where 18,000 chinook came from, where they went and how their harvest affected – if it affected at all – other seasons in other parts of the state.
Winter blackmouth: The San Juans have offered slow to fair fishing so far this month, with action reported at Thatcher Pass and Point Lawrence, among other spots. State checks at the Washington Park ramp west of Anacortes showed 64 anglers Saturday and Sunday with just six blackmouth.
Area 9 followed a strong opening with a strong weekend, but fishing dropped off with weak tides early this week. Checks at the Port of Everett ramp Saturday and Sunday tallied 128 anglers with 27 blackmouth, most from the Possession Bar-Point No Point-Double Bluff triangle.
Area 8-1 showed at least fair fishing for some nice-sized blackmouth, with the East Point-Baby Island slot probably the top producer.
Marine Area 8-2 (Port Gardner, Possession Sound, the south end of Saratoga Passage) opens Feb. 16 and, as usual, the “racetrack” probably will draw the bulk of the fleet. The bar, between Hat Island and Camano Head, fishes well this time of year, according to All Star Charters skipper/owner Gary Krein.
Derby: The Hot Plug Blackmouth Derby runs Feb. 19, offering cash prizes of 45 percent of the net proceeds for first place, 20 percent for second, and 15 percent for third, in Marine Areas 8-1 and 8-2. Last year’s winner, Jason Jefferson, took home $3,375 for his 16-pound blackmouth. Tickets, at $50 per person, are available at John’s Sporting Goods in Everett, and at the Stanwood Eagles (6419 Pioneer Highway). Or write a check to the Stanwood Eagles and send it to Bill Hayes, 1525 South Watkins Drive, Camano Island, Wash., 98282. For more information, call Hayes at 360-387-5638.
More derbies: The Northwest Salmon Derby Series is under way and is scheduled to draw more than 7,000 entrants at eight different events over seven months. The series culminates at the Everett Coho Derby, Sept. 24-25, when the Northwest Marine Trade Association will award a 20-foot Stabi-Craft aluminum boat and 115-horsepower Suzuki engine by random drawing. Tickets for the drawing go to anyone who enters one of the series derbies, with additional tickets going to anyone finishing in the top 10 at any of the individual events.
Besides the Everett coho bash, other derbies in the series include the Roche Harbor Classic, already concluded; the Discovery Bay Salmon Derby, Feb. 19-21; the Port Angeles Halibut Derby, May 28-29; the Bellingham Salmon Derby, July 15-17; the Gig Harbor Salmon Derby, Aug. 13-14; the Hood Canal Salmon Derby, Aug. 20-21; and the Edmonds Coho Derby, Sept. 10.
E-mail John Thorburn for more information, at john@nmta.net.
Youth trout: The state Fish and Wildlife Department has decided that, yes, north Gissberg Pond, adjacent to the west side of I-5 at Smokey Point, is indeed open year-around, as is its neighbor to the south. The north pond is a juveniles-only lake (the south lake is open to anyone), and was planted with 1,000 big triploid rainbows in early November. It’s a good bet for kids as it starts to warm and the trout become more active.
Many of the fish should still be in the water, because most anglers were scared away by a mistake in the current fishing regulation pamphlet that lists North Gissberg as an April-October “traditional” season fishery, and there was a lot of confusion over the issue. It’s open. Get it while it’s hot.
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