Tonight on channel 5 news


http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_042804ENBsteelheadKC.16ee6f922.html

Thanks BrotherChin
Asleep at the wheel again!

H2H,

Can you copy the article over? You have to register with King5 to see the article...

Fish on...

Todd

Fight to save the Puyallup steelhead

06:17 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 28, 2004
By GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News

KING
Puyallup River
BUCKLEY, Wash. - Ten years ago, they returned to the Puyallup River system by the thousands, but today, the famous steelhead run is just a trickle.
Some biologists are taking drastic action to keep what's left of the once mighty steelhead run alive.
Today's surviving colorful, wild steelhead carries the genes of ancient steelhead that once thrived in the Puyallup River system, but is now struggling against extinction.
"I think they are the most threatened species of salmon in South Sound," said Blake Smith, Puyallup tribal biologist.
Puyallup tribal biologists have made saving the steelhead their top priority.
They once gathered hundreds of steelhead from a fish trap, then transported them around impassable hydro and flood control dams to upstream spawning grounds.
Today they can't believe how few there are.
"This is April, the end of April, which is typically the peak month of returning steelhead here. We're at about 50 returning fish for the month, so we're in trouble," said Russ Ladley, Puyallup tribal biologist.
The one bit of good news is that each of the steelhead they pull up look pretty healthy, shiny and robust.


But that's where the good news ends.
Just five years ago, biologists counted 1,700 steelhead in the Puyallup system. Last year just 300.
"We don't want to just stand by and watch them go extinct. We're thinking about a wild brood-stock program," said Smith.
The Puyallups may capture wild Puyallup steelhead to breed in captivity. It's a desperate and controversial measure, but they've tried everything else.
Restricting fishing has helped other salmon species return to healthy returns, but for some reason, not the steelhead.
"I wish I knew, nobody seems to have the answer to the problem," said Ladley.
And they fear, as they watch each truckload of the precious few wild steelhead released upstream, that answer may come too late to save the Puyallup steelhead.
The Puyallups have been counting returning Steelhead for the 60 years. They say last year was the lowest return ever and this year's looks even worse.

The death of another wild run certainly isn't a first, but if fish manager's don't start doing things a little differently, the Puyallup steelhead run certainly won't be the last. SO SAD!

WHEW... a measly fifty fish for the peak month of the return. The once grand dame of steelhead producers in Puget Sound is truly in sad shape.... this run may have crossed the threshold of "critical mass" to dodge extinction.

Do fish managers really need a more shaking wake-up call? Is anybody even paying attention?

I'm sure no expert, but I believe all the developement on the Puyuallup is a good place to start lookin. Its all houses clear to Orting. The river never clears up any more.

We used to be able to watch them take the bait at Alderton. Now in the middle of January you can almost plow it, it is sure to thick to drink.

I'm talkin 1960's now, but we bitcxx about the nets then. I don't think the Indians killed off the run, we just bellyached, cause the fishin was so good we didn't have anything else to complain about.

In the last 15 yrs the whole valley has built up and they logged everything above it to the park.

Progress is just a very sad thing.



herm

As sad as it gets.

Don't blame the nets on this one. The west side of the mountain received among the worst effects of logging in our state on any watershed. Those hills were among the first to be cut and that was long before anyone even considered a buffer zone.
I remember when there was nothing but farms from Sumner to Orting, (and I'm not even that old) soon it will all be houses. You just about could walk on this river, but they do bite. I wonder why most use long leaders here as well. I might be done on this river, after what I did last year every goon in town will have pontoon.


But you can help this river.
http://www.salmoninfo.com/prwcouncil.htm
These guys are always looking for people to volunteer and I believe they work in conjunction with the Pierce County Stream Team. I plan on doing some work on this river and I'd like to see some of you guys down there giving a hand.

Next time all those houses put a frown on your face, just smile and think that they will be barried and we will have a new river. It won't happen tommorow, but you know what it could happen five years from tommorow. I won't have any sympathy, they should know better.

Heres some irony, even as I write this I got the Bob Marley classic "Concrete Jungle" playing. Maybe he knew something. Seems to be true about the whole PS corridor.

Todd- (and all)

You can get past most all the annoying sites that require registration at http://www.bugmenot.com/ Good site to have bookmarked.

PNP,

What should the managers have done differently on the puyallup?

Its been WSR for over ten years, and the tribes have fished very little if at all.


Harvest impacts have been low or non-existent for over a decade yet the run continues to decline. Sounds like something other than a managment problem to me.

Whenever it rains it usually looks brown when I drive by the river on I-5. That tells me something is going on upstream whether it be erosion in the floodplain or erosion of logged hillsides. Whatever it is, clearly a river is not supposed to be constantly brown all winter long.

"Its been WSR for over ten years,and the tribes have fished very little if at all"

Yep WSR has worked wonders on that river hasn't it. For those who think WSR is such a save all law.This is a prime example of how well it works.

Hmmmmm, I wonder fellas...could two sewage treatment plants within 10 river miles of each other have anything to do with it?

For all of you arguing that WSR has not helped to restore any ailing wild runs of steelhead, consider this:

Timing is everything. A tourniquet can stop a life-threatening hemorrhage, but only if it is applied before the dying patient has lost a critical volume of blood.

The problem with reactive fisheries management is that historically nothing gets done until the problem reaches a crisis level from which there is little hope of return.

Isn't it high time for a little pro-active strategy?

Habitat, habitat, habitat. Fish can overcome a lot of things if they have good spawning habitat and the fry can survive. It seems to me that development is what is killing most urban rivers.

AMEN AMEN AMEN!

Unfortunately with the present decision-makers in power, it's habitat schmabitat...
everything's okay if we just put a few more hatchery fish in there.

PNP,

Its not the fisheries managers that screwed the habitat on the puyallup.

You can have the most proactive fisheries managment in the world, but if the habitat is destroyed it won't help.

The blame falls on the developers, loggers, and the state and local governments that regulate them, not with the tribes or fisheries managers..

Don't get me wrong both the tribes and WDFW have screwed up many times, but blaming the puyallup or cedar on them is just wrong. Its easy to do, but not who really deserves the blame.

So true geoduck!!