grandpa,

A skinny line, indeed, but a line nonetheless.

I think that though the rule wouldn't be any different for salmon or steelhead fisheries, it would have pretty big differences in application for an ocean fishery rather than a river fishery.

If there is a selective fishery in Neah Bay, for example, where only clipped fish are kept, the amount of fishing will be controlled by the amount of unclipped fish encountered, similar to the fisheries on the Columbia going on right now.

That would clearly need the tribes' consultation because the amount of unclipped fish that could be encountered is an allocation issue that would have to be dealt with at NoF. The unclipped fish would be headed for many different streams under many different jurisdictions.

If there is, say, a 10% mortality on releasing the unclipped chinook, and our allocation of the unclipped chinook is 1000 fish, and the encounter rate is expected to be 50/50 between clipped and unclipped, our fishery would be based on catching 2000 fish total so as to not exceed our allocation of unclipped fish. This would be to ensure that their 1000 unclipped fish make it to the river so they can net them.

For a CnR fishery in a river, we would be directly targeting the wild fish, with an associated mortality. We would have to make the same type of calculations about how many fish would be encountered to make sure that they get their share without us cutting into it or the necessary escapement, as allowed under the WSP, which has already been negotiated with the tribes.

Under a general WSR regulation, with no associated CnR fishery, we wouldn't be cutting into the wild component any more than usually happens during the Nov. thru Feb. hatchery steelhead run...as a matter of fact, it would be less since there would be no directed harvest of wild fish during those months. Our hatchery regime has already been used to separate wild and hatchery fish temporally, so the encounter rate of wild fish would be low, and we have every right to access our half of the hatchery fish.

So this is where I would see the "skinny line"...

Selective fishery in the ocean:

Very high encounter rate of wild fish, with those wild fish being the limiting factor on how many clipped fish we can catch.

Limiting factor: Proper allocation of the wild component of the run. This will have to be done with the tribes.

CnR fishery in the river:

All wild fish encountered (pretty much all, at least), with a knowable mortality rate. Models showing how many wild fish will be caught, thereby showing how many will suffer mortality. That number will be part of our allocation, and will be limited by what our half of those fish is. We need to determine what our share is, if it's high enough to open a CnR fishery, and how long such a season would be to ensure that the associated mortality does not exceed our allocation.

Limiting factor: Proper allocation of the wild component, plus needed escapement. This will have to be done with the tribes.

General WSR in rivers:

Fishery is designed to harvest our share of hatchery fish, without directly harvesting wild fish. We have a right to half the hatchery fish that the tribes cannot take away. The encounter rate of wild fish would be quite low, and the amount of mortality would be correspondingly low. The only limiting factor on the length of the season would be making sure we don't harvest enough hatchery fish to miss escapement at the hatchery or cut into the tribe's allocation.

This is how all of our Nov. thru Feb. fisheries have always been done, at least for the last few decades, and as long as the hatchery gets their fish, and the tribes get theirs, we can pretty much fish to our hearts' content.

The tribes fish below us on the rivers, so we can't catch fish that are heading to their nets, so that's not an issue.

If the hatchery is getting shortchanged, we close the terminal areas, or close our fishery, to make sure they do get what they need, as we had to do again this year on most hatchery streams.

Limiting factor on our fishery: Fish needed for the hatchery. No tribal/non-tribal allocation issue.

I don't think we need to consult to do this, as it doesn't have any effect on what the tribes do or do not have access to.

Is that the way it will work out? I don't know, but in my opinion, that's the way I see it.

Fish on...

Todd