Just fish

harvesting or intentionally killing a wild steelhead is a slfish act of stupidity and shows great disregard for the future welfare of the species.

What HARM will WSR do?

Harvesting a wild steelhead shows great disregard for the future welfare of the species??

Consider this. Man is probably at the top of the evolutionary list here on earth and much more highly evolved than a fish. To catch, eat, and assimilate the material body, nutrients, energy and life essence of that fish offers it the opportunity to short-circuit the arduous evolutionary path to the top. Being consumed by a man or even a woman for that matter honors any fish. Releasing that fish robs it of any chance to experience life at the top.

And that is an unarguable fact rob! Period!!! :p

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me ................

Plunker a wild steelhead killed by a selfish idiot and used as nutrients for his body is one that won't spawn and perpetuate the species. Therefore every wild fish some idiot eats caused further extinction of the species.
anyone who harvests or wants to harvest a wild steelhead wants them to go extinct.

harvesting a wild steelhead makes a person a scumbag who cares only about his own gratification.

Robert,

That's aweful... All that talk about extinction and extinct fish going even more extinct.

And that's final. Period. :p

Good one Plunk: I didn't know you had a sense of humor!

I love my dog so I'm going to honor him by having him for dinner. The great thing about dog is there is a drumstick for everyone! But I fear he will "evlove" into a septic swimmer. Oh well everything evolves in diffrent ways.

Why are dogs made of meat?

Selfish idiot and Scumbag!

It's good to see people argue their points so eloquently. I'm surprised anyone is left believing that is appropriate to have a nice steelhead (wild or not) dinner.

Rob Allen AKA Robert Allen 3 :

Go to this website and address the people who kill the most wild steelhead. Tell them what idiots and scumbags they are and see if they stop.

http://www.salmonstewards.org/

Ya know, I love my wife so I think I'm going to eat ... Oh. Nevermind.

"Why are humans made of meat?" - George Donner, 1847

:D Does HE know this??

Coffee hit the monitor on THAT one Dave!

If people can't eat dogs and cats, who's going to fight for their rights?

I think we're on to something here!

Fish on...

Todd

{Why are "Plunker & Bruce" made of meat?}

Just playing with ya!

Aunty –
A fair enough question-

What HARM will WSR do?

The question likely needs some clarification – harm to what?

Harm to steelhead? While there should be no direct harm to steelhead there is some potential for indirect harm in a couple of ways. 1) Many feel that this moratorium is a conservation tool – it is not, for more than 20 years WSR has been a management tool to provide angler opportunities on hatchery fish while minimizing impacts on the wild fish of concern. 2) Many in the angling world and the non-fishing public may view the statewide moratorium on the retention as a magic bullet to cure what ails our steelhead populations – believe it or not; not everyone reads this bulletin board. 3) Some anglers may feel that it would be OK to continue to fish stocks in severe trouble as long as it was under WSR – even though at some point no fishing should be allowed. 4) Some folks would see this an opportunity to extend fishing time by either wanting to fishing after the hatchery fish are done or by encouraging the planting of hatchery fish in what may be inappropriate situations. Are any of these enough to negate the potential benefits from this approach – probably not but they do point out the need for continued education of the angling public. There reality is that WSR has been the normal for maybe 95% of our wild steelhead populations and it has helped none – so is it a help?

Will it likely reduce the diversity of anglers fishing for steelhead? Yes, it is likely that some “bonkers” may drop out of the fishery, at least seasonally. Is that a harm – depends on ones viewpoint however for me it is a loss as we lose a portion of our angler base. Clearly many feel it is a gain but is that because they now have a large piece of the pie for their own interest?

This has been as divisive as an issue for the angling community as we have seen for sometime. Given the general apathy and natural division within the community this is a harm.

Does this establish a management standard of sweeping strategies for resources that may be in trouble? For example halibut at one time were common in Puget Sound and even supported a commercial fishery. Given that they are now rare should we institute a statewide prohibition on all halibut fishing? Ling cod? All marine water salmon fisheries? This has a large potential for reduce angler opportunity - a harm.

Just my opinions – It is for each of us to weight these and other factors and decide for ourselves whether this largely symbolic gesture (provides some marginal benefits in a very limited area) worth the risks. As I have said before it is large a question of how much risk and what kind of risk one is comfortable with. However it is my hope that now that the moratorium is here folks and put it behind us (at least for the next two years) and focus on some of the more important issues facing our steelhead that we are all so passionate about.

Tight lines
S malma

S malma

I disagree WRS has greatly helped wild steelhead in the Washougal and East Fork Lewis rivers. Though runs are far from robust back in the 80's sport anglers harvested them in great numbers as bycatch when targeting extremely large hatchery runs. Had WSR not become law on these rivers it's extremely likely that these wild runs instead of being 100-400 fish a season they would be 10-15 fish a season. WRS has kept wild steelhead from foing extinct in the Washougal.

I'd also point out that at the time there was great opposition to WRS in the Washougal, which was in the top 5 rivers in the state by punchcard records. Northwest steelheaders even opposed WRS on the Washougal at the time.

I have said this over and over and over.. there are millions of hatchery fish all over the state of Washington.. fill your cards with thoes.. There is no need for anyone to harvest a wild fish ever..


Grandpa thanks for the link I will now so exactly what you suggested.. Those people also need to stop harvesting wild steelhead,,

Why would I harvest a wild steelhead? Because I don't think they're all wild.

To me the blanket rule shows pure laziness by the state. Instead of doing the reesearch to see what rivers actually need help they just shut em all down.

One postive thing is that with us not taking fish the nets will get they're share quicker. IMHO they only thing that is going to come from this is a larger harvest of fish by the nets.

Kris

One of the main reasons I am against this wsr rule is how its paraded around the fishing boards as a huge victory for native fish yet 90% percent of washington state rivers have been wsr for years now and in only one case have the"wild" steelhead #s rose with any significance and I think that has to do more with decreased netting in that system then wsr.

Supporting WSR is avoiding the real issues affecting the healthy returns of our fish.

Again I believe its nothing more than a do gooder feel good law.

Micropterous

having been around the conservation issues my whole life and the same things always without excetption happens. I am not kidding this happens every single time..

A group decides it wants to do something good. They plan it out and get it all organized, do the politicking it takes they get commissioners on their side. then boom some other group comes in with a complaint and shoots down the whole works and nothing good for fish ever gets done. This happens every single time consequently nothing ever gets done for wild fish. Frankly i am sick of it I want things good done for wild fish and i couldn't care less what affects it has on anyone else because they never cared about the effects of their actions on fish..

Again you might see this as extreme but it's only extreme to the extent of the anti wild fish actions that have gone on for a centruy and are still going on today.
Foregive the crude analogy but it's 100% accurate. Wild fish have been taking it up the butt for 100 years. it's time for the reaming to end and I for one don't care how it ends as long as it does end..

wild steelhead in the state of washington are in decline in every single river system In every river there are fewer fish than there were 20 years ago This by deffinition means that wild steelhead are in the process of extinction, I for one want that process stopped by any mans possible.

People who don't think current wild steelhead populations are truly wild don't know and most likely don't care about the science and are factually incorrect.

Rob you are obviously very intelligent, so you should know that if you are really that concerned about our healthy populations of wild steelhead and their well being then you should hang up your steelhead rods and quit fishing for them.

Thanks for the complement rob. I wasn't sure until you pointed it out that I'm not a scientist. Sure is good to know I'm normal.