All that needs to be done to restore the fish is to stop the damn commerical (tribal and non-tribal) harvest. The department is quick to credit good ocean conditions for the amazing return of fish we had this year. Funny how they leave out the fact that B.C. closed down its commercial fishery 4 years ago. You can leave the main dams (tear down useless ones like the Elwah), keep a solid sport fishery but cancel commercials and the fish will flourish.

Riverman

AKA

Mike Mentzer:

Historically biologists have sold us this line that hatcheries were the answer to our habitat issue. Now, when it is becoming apparent that all the song and dance that has been displayed up till now has been a lie. Biologists like yourself seem to be looking for something to blame other than yourselves. It was a biologist who came up with the MSY concept. Please stop blaming dams, not all rivers have dams yet all rivers are displaying signs of trouble with regard to their wild salmonid runs.

You are to young to blame for the problems we have now, but you should realize that nearly everyone of your fisheries instructors were wrong. It is time to start looking at how we can solve the problems we have now without relying on the fail assumptions of the past…

Nice pic though…
http://www.geocities.com/salmonidguy/yep.jpg

Hey guys,
I want to start by saying that in the past I have expressed a bad distrust in the science used to regulate our fisheries.I still do not trust the way that science is implemented but the truth is I have had a deep love for the biology and zoology of our rivers and streams since I was a very young man.As much as I have said about science vs mothernature I can handle being called Joe fishermen [that was my knick name as a little boy because I was always down on the local creek instead of playing sports]

I think that beyond the science that every river has its own beatifull personality.The river I reffered to above is the dukabush river on the hood canal.Up untill the early seventies I believe,only the lower 6 miles of the river were usable by andromonous fish.# of those miles are locked up into a solid rock canyon that offers no substrate and keeps the fish from being able to use the smaller tribs for spawning.The gravel must come from a source starting about 7 miles up from the salt.The river relies on the big gully washers like we had a few months back to fill those canyon holes with gravel.all the fish entering the river in the past had to share this precioss little space at a fine balance to survive and did.

There was an old hatch program that was abanded in the early seventies.The returning hatch fish were able to reproduce on thier own contrary to what I have read elsewhere.They do there spawning right next to the dec silver run.I firmly believe that there is some intermingling going on based on some of the fish I have caught in that section of the river.

After 10 years of fishing this river every fall and early winter I can tell you that the runs are almost gone.My guesses put the silver returns this year at a rough 400 fish ,the chinook a lucky 20.I have caught and seen 6 truly wild steelhead this winter.Exept for the acasional searun cutthroat you will not find a trout.

Now why is this stream open?I do not know.The rivers are all catch and release exept hatchery steelhead.The state has been putting a wooping 10,500 steel smolts in there to justify a fishery.The man that raises these fish and distributes these fish does not figure any return.Is this a functioning hatchery program?

Hey POS, thank you for exemplifying exactly what I said above, "everyone is an expert in my business". Just another day in the office.

RM

Cutplug, Just curious have you ever asked Bakke personally where he stands on the issues of hatcheries before you start throwing out blanket assumptions? In my conversations with him, he advocates hatchery reform.