It sucked.

This whole situation of blocks of fish passing the fishery by (to me) cry out for in-season management. Develop in-season updates based on catches in the harbor. It means that catches have to be sampled and posted within a few days rather than weeks but it would allow managers to at least have an idea of what is going on. Auto-pilot management leads to situations like this.

I will add, though, that just because there are wide open fisheries does not mean the hatchery won't have surplusses. Back in the 80s, the Puyallups fished Commencement Bay and the river 7 days a week. There was also the rec fishery in the Bay and river. The hatchery still exceeded its needs by 20-30K. In fairness to the whole story, there eventually was year when the goal may not have been reached. But in that system at that time wide open fisheries still missed fish. But, even then, the managers reviewed the situation daily.

I have been laid low by the flu bug so a little late with numbers. Formatting stinks but you guys can figure it I think.

QIN 2022 Modeled Harvest Chinook 3566 Coho 27,934 Chum 3566

QIN 2022 Actual
Date Stat
Week Chinook Chum Coho Steelhead White
Sturgeon
Sept. 25-28 40 612 5 4920 5 6
Oct. 2-6 41 280 36 4859 0 17
Oct. 9-12 42 142 205 3559 0 1
Oct. 16-18 43 45 638 1284
Oct. 23-29 (Closed) 44
Oct. 30-31 45 7 3679 617
Nov. 8-10 46 3 835 748
Nov. 13-16 47 0 130 305
Totals
Chinook Chum Coho Steelhead White
Sturgeon
1089 4560 16292 5 24

https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/tribal/landings#chehalis


NT Commercial 2022 Modeled Harvest Chinook 360 Coho 6208 Chum 4440
NT 2022 Actual Totals
Chinook Coho Chum
3 3516 5550

https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/commercial/gillnet#grays-harbor

Quick, better shut it down, Chum take was too high.

Somewhat surprised they didn’t pick up a few steelhead on this last week or two of sets.

Somewhat surprised they didn’t pick up a few steelhead on this last week or two of sets.

they did get steelhead..

Looking at weeks 46 and 47. Guessing that you’re implying they simply didn’t report any steelhead in those two weeks? Or am I just not reading those numbers correctly?

Most worrisome aspect of those reported catches is chinook.

Nobody caught anything close to the expected number of Chehalis kings... ANYWHERE gear was deployed in their path.

Another escapement failure... another year in the penalty box.

With the marine harvest outlined below I doubt anything will change other than WDFW pissing on the terminal Rec fisher screaming conservation.

2022 Chinook Harvest Impacts
11,617 (37%) = Harvest impacts in Alaska (primarily commercial)
4,637 (15%) = Harvest impacts in Canada (primarily commercial)
291 (1%) = Harvest impacts on the WA Coast (primarily commercial)
16,545 (53%) = Harvest impacts prior to returning to Grays Harbor

3,566 (11%) = Harvest impacts by the Quinault Tribe (commercial)
567 (2%) = Harvest impacts by the non-tribal recreational community in the bay/river (recreational)
257 (1%) = Harvest impacts by the Chehalis Tribe (commercial)
10,567 (34%) = Total unharvested fish, of which a percentage are wild and allowed the opportunity to spawn

"Allowed the opportunity to spawn" Howcome that really doesn't sound right?

SB did the % bit after I posted up the numbers. Your right does not sound right but after thinking on it a bit I think it captures the true intent.

This thinking thing is giving me a migraine!

Well, yeah. In a draft steelhead management plan the State and tribes referred to escapement as the fish they are not allowed to catch so that they can fish in future.

I don't doubt that if there was a way to import the necessary eggs that the State and Tribes would love to have a zero escapement goal for management purposes.

Again they are figuring about 31.2K total adult production in the ocean

Pre-terminal is snarfing up 16.5K (80% of the total harvest) and inside is taking 4.4K (20% of the harvest) for an effective exploitation rate of 66% on a run that perennially fails to make its escapement goal.

INSANITY!

And people still buy licenses and participate in the destruction. So, WDFW's feedback is positive; they still get the money to keep on keeping on.

A bit off-topic for the current fall salmon discussion, but it deserves a spot here... esp since the Chehalis River is featured in the documentary.

A must watch to better understand the genetic implications for spring chinook conservation and recovery.

[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.pbs.org/video/the-lost-salmon-8hjf4t/[/URL]

It was Aldo Leopold who said something along the lines of "A sign of intelligent tinkering is you keep all the parts." We can't recover ecosystems with only those species which are convenient or most desired by humans. And sometimes, the loss of species/subspecies/race/genetics takes a while to manifest.

This is the next netting schedule on the QIN site posted November 22 2022.

WK 48 Sunday Nov 20 pull Wednesday Nov. 23
WK 49 Sunday Nov 27 pull Wednesday Nov. 30
WK 50 Sunday Dec. 4 pull Wednesday Dec 7
WK 51 Sunday Dec. 11 pull Wednesday Dec 14


http://www.quinaultindiannation.com/Fishing%20Regs/chehalis%20commercial.pdf

latest WDF&W but is not on the website at the moment

Portions of the Humptulips and Chehalis rivers will open Dec. 1 to Dec. 16 to provide opportunity for coho salmon fishing while supporting steelhead conservation objectives.

For more information, reference the WDFW emergency fishing rule change webpage.

ASsof 11/30, if you add the number of coho surplused at Bingham Creek and Satsop Springs hatcheries on the Satsop, the number of coho is over 47,000. Unbelievable. Opportunity lost.

The opportunity was not lost but rather taken away by over zealous WDF&W harvest managers using the word conservation to disguise their incompetency.