I was looking at the WDFW Web Site hoping to find current harvest statistics for the winter season last year. Unfortunately, the most current harvest totals are from Winter 1998/1999.

Quillayute River Winter 1998-99 (FROM WDF SITE)

USER NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR TOTAL
TRIBE 291 4,085 1,346 1,132 775 72 7,701
SPORT 437 1,308 1,075 381 594 313 4,108

It's funny how the "50% rule" from the Boldt decision in 1972 has been applied.

I noticed the tribe is not required to report marked vs non-marked fish like the sports totals. The WDFW really should be reporting both user groups the same way and managing the native fish.

The overall sports catch of marked fish for December through April is approximately 5%, 24 %, 69%, 86%, and 90% respectively. Applying those percentages should provide an estimate of the native steelhead catch by the tribes on the Quillyute system.

If the tribe were to stop fishing in January, then for 1998/99 they would have received aobut their 50% AND the native steelhead would not be impacted.

I assume these totals represent what the WDFW calls a "healthy" steelhead population.

If C&R is going to be the rule, then someone will have to break the news to the tribes, and I seriously doubt that happens in this state. In a few years, as the run decline it looks to me like we are headed to where we are today in the Skagit/Snohomish/Stilly systems where fishing isn't even allowed during the prime native run.