Northwest Fish News Of Note (While The Editor Was Away)
When the editor’s away, the news still happens. Such is the message from a full inbox on a Monday morning after a nice long camping trip the hell away from words and blogs and commissions and rule change notices.
With my day job also demanding attention today (and, full disclosure, a Buoy 10 fishing trip scheduled tomorrow), there’s no way to provide the context that some of these items deserve – they’re flat-out controversial or heavy on legalese that a brain still in vacation mode can’t easily explain – but they are noteworthy in one way or another, and so for the permanent record …
SO ABOUT PUGET SOUND SALMON MANAGEMENT THIS SUMMER …
From WDFW:
Marine Area 10 (Seattle/Bremerton Area) salmon fishery update
Reason for action: The current estimate of Chinook sublegal encounters for the summer fishery is 9,471 of 7,748 total sublegal encounters (122%) agreed to in this year’s List of Agreed Fisheries (LOAF). Therefore, WDFW will close the fishery to Chinook retention.
Additionally, the current estimate of coho catch for the month of July is 11,665 coho. The preseason expected catch of coho in the month of July was 4,810 coho, almost 250% above the expected catch. The retention limit for coho is being reduced to minimize impacts on coho stocks of concern.
Responded The Outdoor Line:
WDFW vs Fishing
“…This is the worst I’ve ever seen it in my life. I hope this is the bottom of it because our opportunity on the salmonid front is completely political and has nothing to do with abundance. Our opportunity is completely untethered from abundance and this cannot stand.” –Cohost Tom Nelson
More details: Nelson was also commenting on word from WDFW that managers apparently would end up not opening Sinclair Inlet after enforcement issues in the Gorst area were raised by local tribes.
Advice from insiders: Don’t blame the fish checkers or the gamies, this is a state management issue.
OK, SO THINGS ARE QUIETER OUT ON THE COAST, RIGHT …?
From ODFW
South Coast Opens for Razor Clam Harvesting
The Oregon Department of Agriculture and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announce a new shellfish opening. Razor clamming is open from Cape Blanco (north of Port Orford) to the California border. Recent samples show levels of the marine biotoxin domoic acid have dropped below the closure limit. Razor clamming remains open from Seal Rock to the north jetty of the Siuslaw River.
Responded @PNWHeatDome via The Seattle Times:
West Coast Marine Heat Wave Arrives
“As marine heat waves continued to simmer along the East Coast and beyond, a mass of warm water twice the size of Alaska quietly arrived on the Pacific Northwest’s coastal shores.
“The mass was looming off the West Coast and rolled in with changing wind patterns in mid-July, bringing sea surface temperatures about 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Scientists aren’t sure exactly how long it may hang out, or how it may affect marine life and shellfish harvest …”
“…Meanwhile, the state Department of Health has been monitoring a harmful algal bloom off the coast. Harmful algal blooms are colonies of algae that may grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds.”
… Tests reported Thursday found razor clams off the coast of Twin Harbors had levels of the toxin nearing those considered unsafe for consumption.” –Isabella Breda
More details: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/large-marine-heatwave-reaches-oregon-and-washington-coasts
More details, via Colin McCarthy, @US_Stormwatch:
UGH, SORRY I ASKED. BUT AS IT TURNS OUT, THINGS WERE JUST AS HOT INLAND AS THE OREGON FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION LAST FRIDAY MADE A “SERIOUS LEGACY DECISION,” IN THE WORDS OF ONE OF MY SOURCES WATCHING ALONG …
From ODFW:
Commission adopts MOU with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
After hearing several hours of testimony from members of Grand Ronde and other Tribes for and against, the Commission voted 4-3 to adopt a Memorandum of Agreement with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.
The agreement is similar to agreements adopted with four other Tribes in western Oregon and advances the government-to-government relationship between the Tribe and the State of Oregon. Tribal members will be able to participate in subsistence and ceremonial hunting, fishing, shellfishing, and trapping licensed by Grand Ronde, within a limited geographic area, in partnership with ODFW and the Oregon State Police. Annual harvest limits and areas for harvest by tribal members would be set by mutual consent between the Tribe and ODFW. The state and the Tribe would also work as partners to develop and implement plans to protect, restore and enhance fish and wildlife populations and their habitats.
From the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission on the MOU with the Grand Ronde Tribe
Comments from Corinne Sams, CRITFIC chair to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on the Memorandum of Agreement between ODFW and the Grand Ronde Tribe
“As a matter of sovereign respect to Oregon, the Treaty Tribes have implemented restraint in unilaterally exercising their reserved fishing rights in the Willamette Basin. Oregon’s reluctance to fully discuss our reserved rights and fisheries management in the Willamette Basin in good faith has unnecessarily escalated tensions between the State and the Treaty Tribes. I strongly recommend that the Commission exercise restraint with respect to the current posture of the draft MOA and request that ODFW complete its consultation with each Columbia River Treaty Tribe that has raised concerns about the MOA. Otherwise, I fear that the ODFW, and the Commission by extension, is walking the State and the Treaty Tribes into protracted litigation regarding treaty-reserved fishing rights in the Willamette and lower Columbia rivers. For more than half a century, Oregon and the Treaty Tribes have consciously – and sometimes actively – made a choice not to have that battle. It would be most unfortunate if hasty decisions led to a different result.”
More details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MXjmEfbUkc
From public comments submitted by Portland-based sportfisher Brian McLachlan:
“The threatened litigation poses an enormous risk to the State’s public fisheries on the lower Columbia and Willamette Rivers. If usual and accustomed rights were to be judicially validated, under settled law the Treaty Tribes would be entitled to up to 50% of the available harvest. This would likely result in substantially greater than a 50% reduction in the State’s fishery due to the complex intersection of ESA authorized impacts, catch balancing, and Tribal fishing methods. You should ask ODFW staff, but based on the current Columbia River Management Agreement, the result would likely be around a two-thirds reduction in public fishery opportunity compared to what we enjoy today. In addition, any fish allocated to the Grand Ronde, Siletz, or other Tribes under the MOAs, would come from the State’s share. This would decimate Oregon’s public fisheries on the Willamette and lower Columbia.”
GULP. MAYBE LET’S JUST GO BACK TO WDFW. WHAT’S THE LATEST RESULTS FROM WILD FISH CONSERVANCY’S FULL-AUTO LAWSUITINATOR?
From Bloomberg Law:
Wild Fish Conservancy, Washington State Enter Consent Decree
“Washington state’s fish and wildlife department will fund snorkel surveys of the steelhead population in Skykomish River and Tolt River, under a consent decree it entered with Wild Fish Conservancy.”
“The decree was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington on Thursday after the nonprofit group filed a complaint against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2021. The group alleged that the department violated the Endangered Species Act by taking endangered fish and implementing fish hatchery programs throughout the state without seeking review or approval under the law.” –Emily Garcia
More details: https://nwsportsmanmag.com/wdfw-wild-fish-conservancy-appear-ready-to-settle-hatchery-lawsuit/
Text of the Consent Decree available upon request.
AND ONE LAST LEGAL NOTE, BECAUSE I’VE COVERED THIS SAGA IN THE PAST …
From Fish Northwest:
[2021 federal ESA and APA lawsuit update]
“FNW’s final appeal in our latest lawsuit was denied. This is complex and I will break it down into chunks working backwards from the ruling two days ago. We asked The Ninth Circuit Court to reconsider their latest ruling found in footnote 1 of the last Court’s Memorandum, where Fish Northwest first argued on appeal that the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 2021 Biological Opinion is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act, because NMFS did not ensure compliance with the district court’s orders in U.S. v. Washington (AKA Boldt). In short, the court did not even take the time to review our appeal request and denied it on the day they received it.” –Fish Northwest
More details: https://nwsportsmanmag.com/judge-dismisses-fish-nws-esa-violation-lawsuit-against-nmfs/
NOW FOR SOME SLIGHTLY LIGHTER STUFF OF NOTE …
From ODFW:
Free pheasant hunts for youth hunters around the state in September – Register now
Events in Central Point, Coquille, Eugene, John Day, Klamath Falls, La Grande, Madras, Monmouth, Pendleton, Portland, and The Dalles
From WDFW:
Lake Roosevelt white sturgeon fishery
Reason for action: Hatchery programs rearing white sturgeon began in 2001 in British Columbia (BC) and 2004 in Washington. The number of juvenile white sturgeon released has ranged from 2,000-12,000 each year from 2001 to 2010 (including both Washington and BC releases). Survival of hatchery-produced juvenile sturgeon was higher than anticipated, resulting in a surplus of hatchery-origin sturgeon available for harvest from Lake Roosevelt. Beginning this year, 2023, the Lake Roosevelt sturgeon fishery will occur in the fall to take advantage of cooler water temperatures which are less stressful on sturgeon which are caught but not harvested by anglers.
More details: https://nwsportsmanmag.com/wdfw-to-hold-2-meetings-on-roosevelt-sturgeon-fishery-tweaks/
OK! Day job work completed, blog made somewhat readable, and now it’s time to go on another vacation, albeit a mini one.
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