I’m confused and maybe somebody can help answer my question. The state in its so called wisdom has decided that the Nooksack Wild Coho need to be protected and as such has required all sport caught Coho to be release unharmed. Sounds like a noble and positive policy. BUT…….the State allows a commercial in river fishery from Sunday at 12:00 noon to Friday at 4:00 P.M. with no restrictions for releasing these same “protected” Coho. They also allow a commercial fishery in Bellingham Bay without any restrictions also; (I was hoping to find out the exact fishing schedule on Fish and Wildlife’s Home Page but could not find it). My point is this…if the State wants to protect these fish than why doesn’t the State have a limited weekly commercial fishery like three days on and three days off to allow more of these “protected” fish to get into the river. Am I missing something here? With a six-day commercial fishery in a small river like the Nooksack it seems like the state is being two faced? This just doesn’t make any since to me what so ever! I understand the reason for releasing Kings and how the agreement process works but how can the State justify this policy? I’ll be interested to see what you guys come up with.

There is certainly no state-sponsored commercial fishery in the Nooksack River.

The only in-river commercial fisheries up there are tribal treaty fisheries, which are not run by WDFW. They are run by the NWIFC and NMFS.

Now WDFW is a co-manager of the fish that the tribes fish over, but does not regulate, and by law cannot regulate except in a few specific instances, tribal fisheries.

There is a certain allowable impact on protected, and even ESA listed, runs, but it is rarely used as a directed fishery for sports fishermen. Perhaps never.

The reason is that sportfishers can be the most selective in their harvest by releasing unclipped fish. The part of the allowable impact that is allocated to sportfishers is used up by incidental mortality associated with catch and release.

The rest of the allowable impacts are allocated to tribal fisheries (in river) and non-tribal commercial fisheries (in B'ham Bay).

The tribal season is set so as to allow the maximum possible harvest of hatchery fish without exceeding the allowable impact on wild fish, as is the non-tribal commercial season.

I hope that answers some of your questions!

Fish on...

Todd.