This is important for Chehalis Chinook as around 45% of Grays Harbor Chinook are taken by Alaska and BC. For the Killer Whales this reallly time sensitive as well as the fish. This habitat habitat crap going to save the fish is just that crap. Once you stop killing them in the ocean everything changes. Just for the record if you think WDFW would then reform itself and escapement I say this, you need better drugs!


Curtailing Chinook fisheries will promote orca recovery

The Daily World

This week, new research was published in the journal of Communications Earth & Environment sounding a grave warning for endangered Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) and highlighting urgent conservation measures necessary to stem their pending extinction.

While projecting rapid population collapse in roughly 40 years’ time from maintenance of the status-quo, the authors also shine light on a hopeful path forward to recovery, according to a news release. The publication suggests curtailing ocean-based salmon fisheries in the North Pacific — or transitioning these fisheries toward riverbased locations — can immediately increase critical wild Chinook salmon prey for SRKW and prevent the extinction of the Pacific Northwest’s imperiled keystone species.

For decades, biologists have understood the factors causing the decline of the Southern Residents. Overwhelmingly, the most critical factor affecting SRKW is the reduced abundance and body size of Chinook salmon — the whale’s primary food resource. The Southern Residents are obligate prey specialists on the oldest, largest and fattiest Chinook, which limits their ability to adapt to a changing environment.

Despite our understanding of the science, conservation actions to stem SRKW decline have been insufficient, and politicians and resource managers have fundamentally avoided addressing the role of harvest in depleting the abundance and quality of the whale’s primary food source, according to the journal story. For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has openly acknowledged that status-quo management of ocean-based Chinook fisheries deprives SRKW of the marine prey they require for survival. As a result, the Northwest’s whales are malnourished and declining rapidly toward extinction in plain sight.

“I assumed if only we had the right data, we would make the right decisions. But … not only do we know their biology and the threats they face, we have known these things for a very long time,” said lead author Dr. Rob Williams in a recent Seattle Times article.

While projecting accelerated extinction risks for SRKW from maintenance of status-quo fisheries and conservation actions, the new publication shines light on hopeful solutions, believing that policy actions to reform Chinook salmon harvesting in ocean fisheries can immediately halt the decline of SRKW, the first step toward recovering the population.

“Increased abundance and quality of prey within SRKW critical habitat can be realized by changing fishing practices,” said the authors. “Moving Pacific Salmon Treaty fisheries in Alaska and BC away from Chinook salmon rearing grounds and migration routes into terminal river and estuarine locations results in an immediate increase of Chinook salmon in critical habitat of up to 25%.”

Based upon the modeling results, the authors predict this increase in marine prey availability would be more than sufficient in preventing decline toward functional extinction.

If further efforts are made to transition away from ocean fisheries toward the use of selective, in-river harvesting practices, the paper describes additional opportunities to recover the age and size-structure of Chinook salmon populations.

“By not harvesting immature fish in marine fisheries, and then allowing large [Chinook] females to pass through terminal fisheries to spawning grounds, a [Chinook] size increase up to 40% can occur over a 50-year period,” said the authors.

This would provide immediate benefits for both wild Chinook and orca recovery and improve the quality of SRKW marine prey into the future to benefit their long-term recovery.

Acknowledging the sacrifices that must be made in regards to regional ocean use, the authors warn that swift action is needed to avoid mounting societal costs.

“In a declining population, the longer the lag time between knowledge and mitigation, the more draconian the recovery actions can become, with a larger social cost, and a higher risk that harm reduction actions may not work,” the authors stated.

In regards to the urgent need for fisheries reforms to stem the extinction of SRKW, the findings corroborate long-held claims by the science-based nonprofit Wild Fish Conservancy (WFC) and remedies proposed by the organization in their ongoing lawsuit against NOAA Fisheries. In 2020, WFC filed suit against NOAA for approving Chinook harvest levels and practices in Southeast Alaska that are contributing to the extinction of endangered SRKW and wild Chinook salmon coastwide.




A pod of Southern Resident killer whales. WILD FISH CONSERVANCY

“Most people don’t realize that fewer than 3% of the Chinook salmon caught in the ocean offshore of Southeast Alaska truly originate from Alaska. Up to 97% of these Chinook are actually from British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon rivers, and if given the opportunity, these fish would eventually serve as the critical prey for SRKW as the salmon migrate south into the whales’ critical foraging areas,” explains Kurt Beardslee, co-founder and former Director of WFC.

“Instead, our region’s Chinook are being harvested before the whales have had a chance to feed, regardless of their status under the Endangered Species Act, and at levels that federal fishery managers acknowledge are unsustainable for the longterm survival and reproductive success of both wild Chinook and the Southern Resident population. We will never be successful in recovering these iconic species if we continue to prioritize extraction over their recovery.”

In May 2023, a Federal District Court ruled in favor of WFC in the case, acknowledging the harm of the Southeast Alaska Chinook troll fishery to endangered species and ordering the immediate cessation of both summer and winter troll fishing seasons to protect SRKW marine prey. Nevertheless, NOAA Fisheries, the state of Alaska, and the Alaska Trollers Association worked together to achieve a temporary stay of this action in June 2023, arguing that the economic harm to industry should outweigh the potential extinction of the whales under the Endangered Species Act. This has allowed the Alaskan Chinook fishery to continue intercepting majority non-Alaskan Chinook and priority prey for the starving Southern Residents while the Ninth Circuit Court continues to consider the case on appeal.

As the public awaits the court’s decision and the Southern Residents continue to starve, the new publication highlights the benefits of curtailing oceanbased fishery for the recovery of SRKW.

“If only the SEAK [Southeast Alaska] fisheries were closed,” the authors note “this would result in a potential 8% increase in abundance of mature Chinook in critical habitat that would be realized immediately.”

Beyond the solution of curtailing ocean-based Chinook fisheries, the authors note that any effort to transition ocean-based salmon fisheries toward river-based locations and the use of selective harvesting practices (to protect large females) will help slow the rate of SRKW decline by increasing the quantity and quality of mature Chinook prey.

Methods of selective harvesting to protect threatened salmon runs and large females were developed by indigenous communities thousands of years ago. Many of these historical selective fishing practices were recently revitalized and proven effective in other peer-reviewed and published studies to enable a sustainable transition toward this solution of riverbased selective harvesting for the recovery SRKW and wild salmon.

“This new publication provides a grave warning, but more importantly, it offers great promise and hope by providing a roadmap of science-based solutions that we can take immediately to reverse this trend of decline toward recovery of Southern Resident orcas, wild Chinook, and the communities who depend on them,” stated Emma Helverson, WFC’s executive director. “Now is the time for us to work together to support fishers in overcoming the challenges of transitioning away from ocean fisheries toward in-river, selective fisheries. This transition is the only way we will meet the prey requirements of the Southern Residents, rebuild the age, size, and abundance of wild Chinook, and create resilient fisheries that can exist far into the future.”

https://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/management/north-falcon/summaries#coastal

I see Scharpf was able to secure all of December on the Chehalis for a 1-coho bag

To piggyback on Rivrguy's post simply moving the harvest to bays/rivers is a huge benefit to the whales. It also does not reduce harvest because the State and Tribes can fish down to their ridiculously low goals, but the whales will have their shot. And, the fish will be bigger.

Salmon management = promoting the least efficient fisheries and restricting the most efficient and conservative fisheries. Ain't that something to be proud of?

How much longer can we pretend to have our cake and eat it too?

Until it can be conclusively shown that the cake has disapeared. So, probably four or five years after effective extinction.

I'll believe the Chehalis and tribs being open in December when we get there, I bet it will close again.

I bet it does too

Buy your license now! while it's going to be open in December! lol

4/16/2024

As someone that has fished around the "pump houses" for way longer than most that post on here, I can tell you that the amount of people that have fished in December is limited in number.

Many times, most, I used to have the whole river to myself in December and January. Yes, the river used to be open in January.

In the "old days", many fishers had NO IDEA of the amount of Coho that were available November - January. Ya, there were some bank fishers, but they were fishing steelhead.

There are some reasons for this, most areas of the State, salmon are long gone in tide waters by November and on. Another reason in, high waters or just out and out CRAPPY weather.

I'm betting there will be a December fishery.....ya there might be some tribal fishers in the lower river but they are few in number.

"Time tells all"

Heads up for the Grays harbor Willapa ZOOM tonight.

From region 6

Hello Everyone,

The final Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) meeting for this year’s North of Falcon (NOF) salmon season setting process was completed last week in Seattle. The staff wanted to reach out to share the outcome of these meetings.

We have a Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor public meeting scheduled tonight, April 16, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. via Zoom where we will provide a post-NOF review of the proposed draft fishery regulations and schedules for the 2024-25 salmon seasons for Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor.

You can register for this virtual meeting online at 2024 North of Falcon public meeting schedule | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the meeting.

Attached are the meeting presentation, an updated list of public fishery suggestions received for Willapa Bay to-date, and a copy of the Willapa Bay TAMM model and output. All documents have been posted to our website and can be found at the link above.
If you have any questions about the documents provided, please reply to this email, or contact us directly at WillapaBay@dfw.wa.gov or GraysHarbor@dfw.wa.gov.

Thank you and hope to hear from you tonight.

Additional links:
If anyone is interested in providing comments to the draft salmon fishery packages for either Willapa Bay or Grays Harbor, please provide those comments online at Public input | Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.

If there is anyone who is interested in being added to our distribution list for Willapa Bay, please email us at WillapaBay@dfw.wa.gov. or for Grays Harbor, please use GraysHarbor@dfw.wa.gov.

I haven't fished the Chehalis system as long as some, but started fishing it in the late 70's. Those late coho are really something and seem to have a pretty unique life history which their late return and extended time in the salt.
I've gotten out of the river fishing, but it seemed over time there were less and less of them at least in my experience. I'd have to believe a good number of them got taken out when there were more intense net fisheries for steelhead.
What is the current status of the late Chehalis system coho stocks?
SF

They are netted out of the river during the 5 day per week "steelhead fishery".

What's the likelihood of a winter steelhead season on the GH tribs? Do any of those discussions occur at NOF?

No discusions that I am aware of except around December Coho.

T
I think some might find this interesting.

he first salmon: ‘June Hogs’ doomed to extinction

Pat Neal

The Daily World

The blooming of the salmonberries marks a change in the season. In the old days, these blossoms signaled the beginning of the spring Chinook run up the rivers.

It’s called the first salmon because they’re the first to swim upriver in the spring.

They do not spawn until late summer or fall. Surviving on their body fat, their flesh is rich and succulent.

Salmon oil is beneficial for heart health and brain function.

Just think how good this story would be if I could catch a springer. But I digress.

The salmon have kept people alive since they colonized our rivers after the ice age.

People believed salmon came from a big house at the bottom of the ocean. When it was time to run upriver, they put on salmon robes and voluntarily sacrificed their bodies for the benefit of man and everything on the river — from the tiniest insects to the tallest trees.

Then, the spirit of the salmon would return to their ocean house.

The first salmon caught in the spring was treated as a special guest.

The meat was shared. The heart and bones of the first salmon were washed and returned to the river.

Care was taken so no dogs could get a piece of the first salmon.

On April 19, 1806, the Lewis and Clark Expedition dropped by a First Salmon Ceremony at the Dalles on the Columbia River.

Captain Clark observed, “The whole village was rejoicing today over having caught a single salmon, which was considered as the harbinger of vast quantities in four or five days. In order to hasten their arrival, the Indians, according to custom, dressed the fish and cut it into small pieces, one of which was given to every child in the village.”

It was believed as long as the salmon were treated with respect, the fish would run forever.

Instead, we began the commercial exploitation of salmon.

In 1834, Nathanial Wyeth hatched a scheme to ship barrels of salted salmon from the Columbia River to Hawaii and the East Coast.

James Swan described the salmon fishing in Shoalwater, now Willapa Bay, in June 1852, where he and his Chinook Indian friends caught a hundred Chinook salmon weighing up to 78 pounds with a single haul of a spruce-root seine net.

These fish, called “June Hogs” for their size and fat content, were doomed to extinction.

In 1867, the first of many salmon canneries was built on the Columbia River.

By 1878, cannery operators were facing a shortage of spring Chinook. They built the first fish hatchery.

By 1881, there were 30 canneries employing 2,500 to 3,000 mostly Scandinavian fishermen, while 4,000 Chinese cut the fish to fit into cans.

Every form of net was used to choke the Columbia from one bank to another, making it difficult for salmon to swim upriver. Fish wheels pumped 20,000 to 50,000 fish a day out of the river until Washington outlawed them in 1935.

By then, they were building the Grand Coulee Dam. It had no fish ladders, ending the salmon run into British Columbia.

Eventually, 60 dams were built in the Columbia Basin. Since then, the Columbia River has served as a road map to extinction on other rivers.

By the new millennium, the effect of an increasing human population with exploding pinniped and predatory bird populations has resulted in salmon going extinct in 40% of their historic range in the Pacific Northwest, where 19 populations of salmon and steelhead are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Proving the belief, if we disrespect the salmon, they will not run forever.

Pat Neal is a Hoh River fishing and rafting guide and “wilderness gossip columnist” whose column appears here every Thursday. He can be reached at 360-683-9867 or by email via patnealproductions@ gmail.com.

THE NEW REGION 6 DIRECTOR

Heather Hall named WDFW’s Coastal Region director

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has named Heather Hall as the new director of its Coastal Region (Region 6). Hall has worked with WDFW for more than 30 years, most recently as Intergovernmental Ocean Policy Manager. She began her career with WDFW as a field technician sampling recreational catch in Neah Bay and conducting spawning ground surveys, before becoming the coastal Dungeness crab manager in 2006, spending most of her career working on policy and resource management in Region 6.

“I am excited and honored for the opportunity to apply my experience working with Washington stakeholders, tribal partners, community leaders and other state and federal managers to tackle management and policy issues affecting Region 6,” said Hall. Hall will assume her new role beginning May 1. Reporting directly to WDFW Director Kelly Susewind, Hall will serve as the lead for regional issues in Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, Mason, Pacific, Pierce, and Thurston counties.

“Heather has a strong background in fisheries and fisheries management and supporting coastal communities,” said WDFW Director Kelly Susewind. “She has a strong commitment to public service and extensive knowledge of fish and wildlife of the Coastal Region, and I am excited to see her take on this new role for the Department.”


Hall holds a bachelor’s degree in science from Western Washington University. In her free time, she enjoys kayaking, standup paddleboarding, crabbing, and gathering oysters on Hood Canal.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife works to preserve, protect, and perpetuate fish, wildlife and ecosystems while providing sustainable fish, wildlife, and recreational and commercial opportunities.

so who was the region 6 manager?

Cannot remember his name ! He came after Larry Philips but only in the job a short time.

So. Is this a good, a bad, or an indifferent selection? Maybe open up greater communication for the issues in R6?

No idea but the regional Directors positions were created to keep the legislators happy who found old games structure much better the WDF. But WDF out flanked them as all divisions report to Olympia. A senate majority leader once called the positions "nothing but spies for the Director". You draw your own conclusions but it is a figure head position only.... well maybe in charge of PR.