Did anyone see the big pile of dead fish in the Tribal hole on the Elwha? They had not spawned, and there must have been over 20 of them. A guy in a drift boat said the Indians bleached the hole, Anyone know whats up with that?

Tell me its not true!!!

bleached the hole?

I don't think "bleaching" rivers was part of the treaty....?

Diseased fish? I will be looking into this one!!!!!!! The Elwha tribe is governed by the point no point treaty I believe.

[This message has been edited by smilesforu (edited 01-16-2000).]

Can anyone explain bleaching the hole to me. I've never heard of this, but tribal or not sounds ilke it should be treated like a toxic chemical spill.

OK... If they were Chum or old Silvers, then they were probably fish that got caught in the nets that were pretty much dead/not in good shape, and they piled them up on the bank, to die... I've seen this MANY times, although sometimes even with fresh chums, and it's really a hard sight to see, a pile of bright chums just thrown on the beach, cause they don't want to catch them again... Who knows... I did notice a bunch of half dead silvers up in the hatchery creek though, so I know there are some still alive... I think it would be DEFINITELY worth looking into!

Tom

Don't want to sound like a doe head but what is Bleaching???

Please someone more enlightened than many of us tell us what bleaching is...never heard the term.??



------------------
Jim Bain
Always have Fun while Fishing!!!

yes could somone please tell us what bleaching is,never heard of that term,thanks for any info.

FISH ON!!!

I looked at the thread about bleaching. It sounds like there is some confusion about what bleaching is. When I was a kid growing up in UT vandals (for lack of a better word) would pour bleach in small creeks. The bleach basicly removes all of the oxygen from the water so the fish have no way of breathing. The bleach does not ruin the fish, in other words you can still eat them. I can't believe the tribes are using this method on Salmon. One other note about bleaching, the bleach dosn't care if your a Salmon a Trout or a bullhead it kills everything in the water. Unbelievable!
-Bruce Pearson- www.gamefishin.com

Bruce is right. While growing up in the Islands I heard about the bleach horror stories, where divers open up bottles of Clorox into fish-filled caves in the coral reef. The main problem is that the bleach destroys the habitat, i.e. kills the living coral. Likewise, bleach in a river would destroy everything living, including the algae on the rocks. There are unique subsistence fisheries that exist where fish are poisoned in the river and are collected downstream. But the poison only affects fish, not other organisms or living things in their respective ecosystem. I'd be surprised and saddened if Elwha tribal members did this to their own river. Anyone with a stake the Elwha's anadromous resources should realize the short-sightedness of this harvesting method. Dynamiting rates higher.

I found this on another bb and I want to call this guy out.


Let's talk fishin!

Bleaching B.S.

Posted By: Ski
Date: Wednesday, 19 January 2000, at 4:19 p.m.

If I remember right, the guy says that some drift boater on the river told him about bleaching. Drift
boater on the Elwa? I thought there were no boats allowed? That was my clue that the whole story is a
lie. Can you imagine how many 50 gallon drums of bleach it would take to do the job? TOO MANY.


I was only passing on what I heard and wondered if anyone else knew anything.
I dont appreicate being called a lier, and this guy, who goes by SKI, didnt have the guts to post this on this page. So Im callin you out Ski

Don't be to hard on him Joe. Some would like to believe things like that don't happen..It's criminal they do !!! Sure aren't the stewards of our resources any more are they ???

Ok.. You can take a drift boat down the elwah, you are just not allowed to fish from it, or any other floating device... I seriously have a HARD time believing that someone bleached the Elwah, trust me people, This kind of thing happens a lot with the nets down there... They will pull salmon out of the river, and leave them there as to not want to catch them again.. Mainly happens with chums though...

Tom

Hey guys. Remember to keep this all in context. Don't go off half cocked thinking that this bleaching story is in any way truthful. Step back a moment and realize that the whole idea that bleaching occurred was someone's wild guess, on this bulletin board. No one saw or smelled or in any way observed bleaching on the Elwha. This is exactly how lynch mobs started. Someone dreams up a wild story and before you know it, the mobs out looking for the first dark skin they can find to punish as the guilty party.

I moved up here from Oregon a couple of years back and have been amazed at the blatant racism exibited by Washinton state fishermen towards the local tribes.

We and our forebearers kill off most of the fish and wildlife, cut down the forests and destroy enormous tracts of habitat and then we want to blame the lousy fishing on the Indian tribes. Get a grip. And you wonder why we couldn't get more support for the ban on nets. This whole discussion is disgusting.

[This message has been edited by Buddy Page (edited 01-20-2000).]

Buddddy... Buddddy..... Buddddy

I second that...........My God

I agree with you fully Buddy, and I started this topic. My only intrest is the fish, whatever the intrest group, the limited recource must be watched carefully. I own a flyshop and am faced with ignorance and racial BS every day. everyone wants to point a finger at one intrest group, not seeing that all involved are to blame equally. Be it sportfishing, logging, devolopment, native and non-native commercial fishing, face it everytime we flush the toilet we are doing damage. When I see nets, trees cut to the river edge, dead wild fish, poor release practices, or any other activity that hurts the recource it pisses me off, and if there is a question of its legality Im going to speak up. I had no intention of making this a racist issue, I just saw a lot of dead fish, some of them wild, that had no chance to spawn. I got a little mad about sky's posting, I should have cooled off before I started typing.
Joe

Buddy, I don't agree. Most that chimed into this topic were asking what the act of bleaching is. Also, the majority of the others expressed some skepticism over this rumor. Please don't blow this post out of proportion and start using the "R"-word. I will concede, though, that lately anything to do with the Elwhas has produced less-than-charming responses. Hillbilly Redneck please beat on this one too.