About dammed time.

+1

Elimination of C&R mortality %'s and stress on big spawner females should be mitigated now versus when the stock is in total collapse.

Applause.

Blame the sea lions!

They took our fish!

You can't discriminate against turd slurpers in WA nowadays.

Actual.....commercial netting has taken many of the sturgeon. Grays Harbor NT were allow to take white sturgeon in both the Chehalis River, Willapa Bay, and the Columbia......those net fisheries should have been shut down, years ago.

Guided sturgeon trips, on the Columbia were more recent, but once it caught on.......it boomed......it was catch and keep but those days are long past......now catch and release.

Tribes are allow to net and keep certain size sturgeon...

This is probably appropriate action, but once again, I doubt it was sportfishing that led sturgeon to their present state. Considering their life cycle, sturgeon are probably even worse off than the other native species being systematically wiped out, so yes, full, permanent closures seem inevitable. Too bad I never got to meet one up close; they're fascinating fish.

When it comes to sturgeon, the state have tried a piecemeal closure approach as a solution over the years, IMO they should close the whole state down instead of as stated “Sturgeon retention seasons and C&R fisheries above Bonneville were not part of the discussions.”

+2?

I was at the Region Five meeting when they changed the slot limit years ago. Instead of buffering towards more spawners the lower end of the slot was changed to allow for fatter commercial fishes. IMHO

I have not retained one since that meeting.

Bingo! take a long hard look and ask yourself are they worth it.

I might have made a mistake on the above statement.....In Grays Harbor, the QIN, has recorded NO sturgeon since their "Winter run steelhead netting season has begun".....maybe a change ???? Time will tell.....

Anywhere a wild steelhead swims next ?

DING,DING,DING! we have a winner. Just keep those old photo albums close by on the coffee table so you can look at all those old pic's of those wonderful days of old harassing the [Bleeeeep!] out of big wild steelhead while your waiting for winter to get over so you can go fishing again.

Based on what data? You are a man of science, what part of the bio's (scientific) presentation points at the C&R fishery as a major cause of the decline in the spawner size class?

Sturgeon are a very hardy fish that can and have survived hours out of water. The impacts C&R cause are minute compared to the nets and sea lions. Sporties take in the rear again. They are prehistoric for a reason.

Might as well save my fishing dollars and go the fuggin aquarium.

Save me a spot... Hard to believe how much support there is on this board for the commission on this one. Just imagine if they closed the OP to catch and release fishing for steelhead, [Bleeeeep!] would be hitting the fan. WDFW is getting pretty good at pitting one user group against another to shut things down, pretty soon we'll all be holding hands watching fish getting "native" in a redd.... can't wait.

I think the CnR mortality on sturgeon is actually very low...but there are some indications that the fecundity/spawning success of CnR'd oversized females is severely compromised.

Comparing them to other fish, especially salmon and steelhead, is not a valid comparison.

Fish on...

Todd

Todd -
One study on the Fraser pegged the release mortality for sturgeon on rod and reel (direct and delayed) at about 2.5%. Of course the real rub is the longevity of the sturgeon. Over the decades individual sturgeon are likely to be caught multiple times and it would take much to make the cumulative mortality to become significant and perhaps more importantly shorten the average life span of the fish and the number of times a given fish might spawn.

Curt

Maybe...but I haven't yet seen any studies talking about 2.5% for one CnR, compared to caught twice in two days, or twice in a month, or three times in a week, or anything like that.

I suspect that the closer in time two CnR's would be, the more likely there would be cumulative effects. I would also suspect that there is a time...6 hours, 6 days, 6 weeks, who knows?...where the fish returns to baseline and there aren't any cumulative effects.

It's the reports that big females "reabsorb their eggs" or "don't spawn" after being CnR'd that concerns me.

Those are in "quotes" because though I can find where California DFW cites that concern often, I don't have any studies on hand that say that...but that has become at least somewhat of a consensus, I think?

More studying is probably called for, but at least the sturgeon will still be there after studying, unlike salmon that are dead before you could learn anything.

Fish on...

Todd

Ding, Ding, Ding! Now we truly do have a WINNER tonight! May as well do my "fishing" these days on You Tube all the "opportunity" that exists or is planned to being yanked in Washington state! I hate to repeat BUT my fishing $$$$ are headed north to Alaska to "Low Hole" all those WA. state ASAP! FYI I booked 2 trips today as a matter of fact! Can you see the handwriting on the wall all you Rec anglers? I certainly can and do!