I was just talking to a friend of mine and he was told by the manager of a hatchery on the Skokomish river system that they will not be raising anymore steelhead. They have been at it for about ten years or so and the returns have never been good but I know from experience that some of those fish are hogs. Years ago the Skoke was listed as one of the rivers a person could possibly catch the Holy Grail of steelhead (30+lbs.)

I predict the steelhead will go the same way as the Eastern Wa pheasant. In both cases natural production cannot sustain the harvest. The WDFW does not want to raise either pheasants or steelhead. WHAT DOES WDFW DO, ANYWAY??

One thing that WDFW does is operate the largest industrial hatchery complex of salmon and steelhead hatcheries in the world.

By far.

Fish on...

Todd.

I was told that there are around 350 salmon hatcheries in the United States. 90+ of those are in Washington. So we are paying to raise 25% of the salmon produced in America. I think that should be more than enough

Todd---------do you have 'stats', or is that just "lawyerese" talk?? Compare Washington to Michigan please...

Periwinkle, are you kidding? The stats are set in stone. I think that Washington State has something like 104 years of hatchery production which has resulted is disgusting returns.
Our hatchery programs are near total failures and I had a pile of scientific studies to prove it. There is some good literature out there - go for it.

Periwinkle,

You don't need to be a lawyer to take five minutes and do a search on Google.

"There are over 100 hatchery facilities in Puget Sound and Coastal Washington
operated by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Puget
Sound and Coastal Indian Tribes, and United States Fish and Wildlife Service
(USFWS)."

--From HATCHERY REFORM IN PUGET SOUND AND COASTAL WASHINGTON
H. Lee Blankenship and Michael A. Kern Northwest Marine Technology, 955 Malin Lane S.W., Suite B,
Tumwater, WA 98501, USA
Long Live the Kings, 1305 Fourth Ave, Suite 810, Seattle, WA 98101, USA

Here's the document: http://www-heb.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/congress/2002/Hatchery/Blankenship.pdf

This doesn't include all the hatcheries in eastern Washington, just Puget Sound and the Coast. There are a dozen or so more there.

"The State of Michigan operates six hatcheries and five permanent salmonid egg take stations. Two hatcheries are in the Upper Peninsula (Marquette and Thompson State Fish Hatcheries). Four hatcheries are in the Lower Peninsula and all are located on the westside of the peninsula. "

From: Overview of Michigan's Fish Hatchery System, Michigan Dept. of Nat. Resources web page, http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10364_28277-66567--,00.html

Fish on...

Todd

Periwinkle, Growing up in Michigan watching the first salmon return from fry imported from the Cowlitz hatchery returned in unbeleavable numbers into my back yard. After tasting one I realized that those fish had only one good quality that was to C&R that lowsy tasting slab of SHiiisss. That has alowed the hatcheries to have such a high return of fish every year. They may only have 6 opperating hatcheries but the fish have almost no enemies from the time they are released to the lakes. Not even for human consumption, do the commercials harvest them in any numbers. I think both states have done a great job with what they have to work with. (Funding)

Let's see, the hatchery has been raising steelhead for about 10 years, but the returns have been dismal. But because you have caught some hatchery hogs (apparently), they should continue to waste money on a hatchery program that is producing poor results per dollar invested. As a taxpayer and license purchaser, why wouldn't you want WDFW to invest in a program that yields a better fish return per dollar invested?

Further, I've never heard this legend that the Skok was high percentage water for large steelhead, let alone 30 pound fish. I'd think the Skok Indians would have a few to report from their net catches if so. It was, however, a river with spring and summer chinook and summer steelhead before the Cushman dams, tho.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

I'm in agreement with Salmo. G.

Salmo, Where in my post did you read that I wanted them to keep wasting money on a loosing program? I simply stated that I have caught a few nice fish there and they were closing the hatchery to steelhead. The river was listed in a magazine in the mid seventies as a river that could produce a 30 lb fish for an angler and I have seen a 26 lber this year. Anyway, that is all I stated. Have a nice day.

Thanks for the info Metalhead. Does this mean that the rest of the canal rivers will be void of hatchery fish also?

The idea of giving up on a program just beause the results have not yet yielded the numbers that they have projected seems ludicrous to me. God help the education system if that is how the State is operating now.

Salmo, you did come across as mean spirited but I forgive you, LOL! I really had no point other than to say that a hatchery was closing and maybe brag a little about catching some good size fish in that system. I also feel it is necessary to pull the plug when something isn't working. I guess what bothers me is that the Skok could be a great river if it was allowed to be and that is what makes me sore. But hey, sorry for taking offence at your provocation because without provocation some questions would never be raised and some answers would never be found. Take care and tight lines.

MHRon,

Never a hard feeling here. I wonder if the Skok could be a great river. I'm trying to learn more about it. It seems like most, if not all, Hood Canal wild steelhead populations are at very low levels. Then to add insult to injury, the Chambers Creek hatchery stock doesn't seem to perform well. What's left? It might work to have a locally adapted steelhead hatchery broodstock, but that's what I'd expect WDFW to have by now, but maybe not.

I see some hope on the horizon with mitigation for Tacoma's Cushman dams. They're going to be forced to increase flow to the north fork, sooner or later, depending how long the litigation lasts. The north fork is already a good coho stream and is becoming a better chum - summer and normal time runs. With more water, it could eventually support spring and summer chinook again that would be separated by timing from the hatchery fall chinook, and that should be a good thing.

The south fork is another story. The habitat is so beat up, that it's likely to be at low productivity for a long, long time. If you've got ideas, I think there are interested parties. Simpson has an HCP in the watershed, and others may be looking for opportunity too.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

For some reason Hood Canal Wild Steelhead just dont seem to recover.

Salmo G,

If you're still here; do you have any answers for the lack of both coho and steelhead returns to Hood Canal rivers. I believe commercial fishing impacted the coho quite a bit but they would not have affected the winter run steel head which seem to have all but disappeared from the streams i fished as a youngster. Thanks ahead for any info.

Slug,

I don't know the Hood Canal streams very well. I think the most productive coho and steelhead habitat is pretty degraded by development, especially on the Kitsap peninsula side. West side streams head in the national park, so that is good, but other parts of those rivers have been pretty trashed by logging. Hood Canal coho have been managed for natural production for some time now, so they should be doing about as well as their habitat productivity and capacity permits, which might be kinda' low. Steelhead are such generalists that they should have rebounded to habitat capacity unless they're being over-harvested. From the way chum salmon perform, both hatchery and wild, it doesn't seem like there is an early marine rearing problem. I wish I knew. Maybe there are some experts here who can shed some light on the topic.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Salmo

I wouln't call it mean-spirited it is more or less strightforward talk and I can appreciate that.

Your point is well taken and the decision may the best for all but you asked "How much are you willing to pay to be able to catch a hatchery steelhead?" and my answer would be that in the last 30 days I have spent 53 hours on the road chasing steelhead not fishing time but travel time alone. Maybe I am being selfish or a little protective of the river closest to me that does have a hatchery program. I do respect your point of view but fishing is like getting a fix for me and if they shut down the hatchery program they may close the river (or all canal rivers) totally during steelhead season and I will be spending that much more time on the road and explaining to my wife why the gas bill is so high. I hope that you can see where I am coming from even though you disagree with me.

thanks

Foggedin