LONGVIEW -- In what might seem like a time warp, purse seines, beach seines and fish traps will reappear up and down the Columbia River this summer.

A Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife test of alternative commercial fishing gear will be expanded from last summer's pilot project, with new work scheduled from mid-August through October.

However, years of further testing are likely before Columbia River commercial fishermen use anything other than gillnets to catch salmon and sturgeon.

Alternatives to gillnets are getting more attention as fishery managers try to increase the catch of hatchery salmon so they don't compete with wild salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.

At the same time, biologists want to minimize mortality of wild fish that are caught and released.

For more than 50 years, Columbia River commercial fishermen have used only gillnets, which have a mesh size ranging from six to nine inches and trap fish by the gills. Gillnets must be hauled on board boats before the fish can be removed. By that time, fish that must be released may be injured too badly to survive.

WDFW officials Sara LaBorde and Pat Frazier gave an update on the alternative gear project recently at a Longview meeting of the Coastal Conservation Association.

Last summer, the WDFW hired commercial fishermen to test one beach seine, one purse seine and a device called a Merwin trap.

Seines have a 3 1/2-inch mesh and fish can be examined while still in the water ..... http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/07/03/1254080/seines-of-times-on-columbia.html

Hmmm... Kind of contradicts with what I'm hearing from the CCA crowd.... Seems as if they beleive they going to mow these gillnetters down and have them fishing selectively sooner than "year's" from now....

So what's the true time line?

Keith

However long it takes........new ground here

all i can say is i`m glad i dont make my living off of selling sportfishing boats or gear because when they get this figured out it isn't going to be good for business.

Now I'm hearing the PLAN is to troll, the rumors never end down here.

At the latest change will come from Oregon in the fall of 2012 and implemented in 2013

Earliest will be by the 2011 Oregon legislature knowing the 2012 ballot initiative is coming down the tracks.

Have to chuckle at you nay sayers ( you to Free Spool ). Change is happening out in the field and you guys are chasing ghosts on the internet.

To quote Johnny Cash...........I hear that train a comin, she's comin round the bend...

Personally I think all the improvements that are being made on tribal lands are going to put a serious damper on the whole selective fishing idea other than terminal type fishery's..But that was the goal all along right.

The former, yeah, no chit...the second, it will reduce mortality rates on individual fish, but will just increase the encounters with wild fish enough to kill the exact same amount as before.

Yippee. No increase in spawners, decrease in fish for the sporties to harvest...excellent idea...sure am glad my Columbia River endorsement fee is helping pay for this, along with the Mitchell Act funds that my bidness contributes to...

Fish on...

Todd

http://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/salmon/docs/SOF_0628-0704.pdf

Fixing habitat, the spill and removing dam's is/will have the same effect, mark rate dropping.. Apply a 22% or better mortality rate to the above and its getting hard to justify.

Always what you are against..

What is your solution?

How much money have you donated to tearing down the dams?

I have many, and though I've shared many of them with you many times, why am I not surprised that you don't remember any of them?

I'm "always against" things that are stupid, counterproductive, and hurt sportfishing...like this whole retarded idea of giving more fish to the commercial industry with no corresponding benefit to wild fish or sportfishing...why any sportsfisherman would support this idea is so far beyond comprehension that I actually question the sanity of some who do...

Fish on...

Todd

Didn't know there was a fund other than the IRS and my power bill..

You haven't figured out, I don't give a crap what you think of me.

And you didnt answer the question. Two degrees gone to waste.

i`d like to see the muckelshoots put a fish trap in the lower duwamish near the new boeing bridge and fish the hatchery fish down to hatchery escapement and turn the river into a dead zone so i could say i told you so, do you realize that they could do that ?, is that what you want ?

Poor Boater,

The muckelshoots didnt fish for winter steelhead due to low returns. They are currently waiting for the in-season estimates for the summer runs currently heading their way, before they will fish. They are apparently more concerned about wild fish than boater is. They only get half the harvestable returns. A poor example to illustrate your point.

I do like the trap idea. Far superior to the gillnets strung across the river like an obstacle course, killing the few wild fish left in that system. They have lost a few nets. I will pass that along.

Remember the video you posted last week. You "selectively" omitted some crucial remarks by another cca rep in the testimony. Andrew Marks testified about the selective non tribal harvest in a south sound bay, using seine nets. Ive never heard anyone complain about the lack of fish on that run. You didnt leave that out on purpose did you? Thats a selective fishery boater. You should be all over that and try to prove your point. Does Ocean Beauty pay you per post?

Don't flatter yourself, I don't really think of you at all...just the bad idea you keep using to show you know little to nothing about fish and fish management.

Fish on...

Todd

Gut feeling, none science based, it's about what you'd expect from a group of anglers with little knowledge about fisheries.
If CCA wants to get in the game, they need a strong science advisory team.
I wouldn't ask a fisheries biologist how to catch a fish, just like I wouldn't ask a angler how to recover dwindling stocks.

if they did i would be all for the commercials getting more fish but i`m not a`m i ?

You have to admit, it is kinda funny when the "sporties" who are trying their asses off to give more fish to the commercial fishing industry...out of our share...like to call those who oppose their retarded idea either commercial fishermen, or their friends.

I can tell you this with utmost sincerity, if I were a commercial fisherman and was looking to find some sporties to support me taking more fish to the market, I wouldn't be asking me, or boater, for help...I'd be asking the CCA.

Fish on...

Todd