Are the Reiter fish all Chambers brats or have they started trying to get later returns? February seems late for Chambers fish to be returning.

I do want to add that Mr. Skoog mentioned that hook and line was being used, although gill nets are authorized. I failed to put that in my summery and it was an oversight on my part and should of been included in an effort to be fully transparent. For that, I apologize.

I think dialogue is important, and since Mr. Skoog seems comfortable in speaking on this, it is always best to hear it from those that are active in the matter rather than lean on second hand information.

Perhaps this might lead to better communication, and that is always good.

Hook and line? What a novel concept.
Now these numbers make more sense. They have KEPT two wild fish and 17 hatchery.
I am sure they are logging all CNR impacts...

I'm sorry to say, but you were in fact lead a line of BS. On Mr. Skoog's behalf, he probably isn't informed on what actually happens so he may have thought he was speaking the truth.

Ask the locals who live there. They watch it EVERY DAY. Those tribal netters know exactly how, when and where those steelhead run. You think steelhead only run the beaches at whidbey? HA. Those beach seines/gilnets they use are flat out DEADLY. Look at what they did on the Fraser to the Thompson fish.

I cannot validate what I was told as truth or otherwise. I merely went to a source that should have some details and reported what I was told. As in every situation, the truth probably lies somewhere within the middle. It would be interesting to have this matter dug into more completely and facts verified...it would serve transparency well.

Have we heard ANYTHING back from Mr. Warren or WDFW?

Nothing from WDFW. I sent a follow up yesterday...crickets!

Correction....

Hard to UN-catch the fish that are already dead.

So then presumably there is an "allowable harvest" agreed upon by both co-managers?

Has NOAA then rubber stamped this?

There is a Federal mandate allowed exploitation rate cap of around 4%. Some of that is used to support the hatchery directed winter sport fishery.

Curt

Well 19 so far and many more to go. Curious as to what the forecast for wild steelhead on the skykomish the winter/ spring is to be.

We’ll find out. I know a FOIA was filed.

Anyone have some hay bales laying around? I have heard that historically the nets don't fair well in deer creek when the bales come rolling down. Might be the same for local big rivers.

Sadly with the state playing the “we can’t do nuffin” card in regards to situations such as this the public is being pushed toward the actual stewards of the resource.

How a fishery that can impact ESA listed fish was allowed is sad. I haven’t fished for native steelhead in that system for years because it’s been closed...at least to a group of us...

I just got this response from the Commission. I assume it's a cut and paste that they sent to lots of people, because it attributes a few statements to me that I never said.

There's a chart at the bottom that doesn't cut & paste well, so I've left it out.

(sic) throughout.

"Thank you for sharing your concern regarding the harvest of Snohomish wild steelhead in Tulalip Treaty fisheries. As you point out the Snohomish stock of steelhead is listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA); it is a component of the Puget Sound evolutionary significant unit which was listed in 2007. As a result both state managed sport fisheries and tribally managed fisheries with impacts on these stocks are required to be permitted by NOAA Fisheries. As part of the listing and permitting process NOAA develops what is called a Biological Opinion in which it assess factors associated with our fisheries and the likelihood that our combined “action” – the fisheries being assessed – will or will not “pose jeopardy to recovery” of the stock. In their assessment, NOAA Fisheries looked at our future fisheries with the expectation that they would remaining at levels similar to those which immediately preceded the listed. The basis for this is rooting the fact that the co-managers had taken significant actions to reduce impacts in the years prior to the listing. In their assessment NOAA Fisheries viewed harvest impacts on wild winter steelhead relative to “historic levels”; here again, that period immediately prior to listing – 2001/02 through 2006/07 fishing season. Their assessment focused on the 5 key stocks (Skagit, Snohomish, Green, Puyallup, and Nisqually); for the aggregate the average harvest rate identified by NOAA was 4.2%.



With that as the backdrop for developing a fishery management plan for the 2017/18 season, co-managers craft fisheries based on historical rates of effort and catch. In this system these rates are considered to be conservative given actual effort and catch when assessed in the post-season context. The forecast runsize for the 2017/18 season is 3,000 wild winter steelhead and the total predicted harvest impact is 3.4% (73 fish in the Tulalip fishery and 27 All citizens sport fishery). This is associated with a Tulalip fishery that is predicted to harvest 66 hatchery origin winter steelhead and a sport fishery which is predicted to harvest 2,271 hatchery origin steelhead.



In your correspondence you state that “there are no harvestable hatchery wild steelhead in the lower reaches on the Snohomish system at this time of year”, from historical data we see that the fishery has harvested hatchery fish into March. From our perspective removing adult hatchery fish from the system is a good thing. You also indicate that the Tulalip Tribe has not fished for steelhead in these areas during this time of year in a very long time, to the contrary, while the Tulalip Tribes’ fishery has very little effort – particularly in the past 5 seasons – this regulation is very similar to those issued in recent years. Their total catch of wild fish in recent years has substantively declined; date for three recent five-year periods is summarized in the table below:



5-year season range


Average annual harvest of wild winter steelhead

2002/03 - 2006/07*


31.2*

2007/08 - 2011/12


18

2012/13 - 2016/17


1.6

* all fisheries were closed due to a low predicted run-size in 2002/03; taking that season out of the average would result in an average of 39 fish/year.



I point out this catch information because I think it is important in the context of the impacts predicted to occur versus their actual fishery; i.e. we would anticipate something far less than 73 wild.


For comparison Snohomish sport impacts over the past 10 years have averaged an estimated annual hooking mortality of 28 wild winter steelhead and an average annual harvest of 3,001 early winter hatchery steelhead.


The management plan also includes language which states that co-managers will exchange information through the end of week 5 (end of January), to determine how the remainder of the season will proceed. The threshold for this trigger is based on effort and catch of wild winter steelhead. From the start of the fishery in December through February 5 the Tulalip harvest were 2 unmarked and 17 marked steelhead reported; therefore these was co-manager agreement to proceed with the remaining schedule. Another provision in the plan says that the tribe will closely monitor the fishery and close if catch approaches the pre-season modeled value for wild steelhead. Suffice it to say WDFW sees no justification for or options by which we would object to the fishery."

Sorry for the lack of response guys. I had some things going on and did not get on the site last week. As to where this release came from ---someone listed a contact from the state last year in which you could request all the tribal notifications. I signed up and try to take a look at anything strange that pops up, but there are so many notifications it can be hard. I recommend doing this as it will give you a good idea of what is going on. Its where I picked up Nisqually opening this year, along with the recent plans to harvest squid. It also was interesting in 2016 as there were private reports the Nisqually tribe was netting, but no opening was announced or noted in the regs. I sent out some emails to the tribe and to the state on a Friday morning and, while I never got a response, the two sides printed out an immediate emergency opening that afternoon for both sides.

Again, I highly recommend any one that spends anytime looking into what is going on or spends a lot of time on the river to sign up for the releases. It can reveal some interesting information at times.

If you want to get the updated tribal fishing regulations, you need to send your request to:

TreatyFishRegs@dfw.wa.gov.

This list is maintained by staff rather than an automated program.

As Krijack says, you'll get every change that the tribes submit to WDFW from sea urchins to squid to salmon, crab, halibut.......everything commercial and what they are proposing for subsistence and ceremonial seasons along with the dates, permitted gear, and bag/possession limits. You'll quickly find out that tribal regulations in their U&A are usually not anywhere close to the sport fishing regulations.

bushbear's response really ups the interest. And, adds further fuel to the WTF does WDFW do.

WDFW sent out that reg to Krijack, so they had the reg in hand when folks asked. And they still didn't know what was going on?

Are you getting more than just fin fish openings? I requested to be added to the email list and this is the reply I received:
"You will receive emails from us when there are finfish regulations."

It appears that they are sending over all the releases that the tribes provide. This includes anything from Sea Urchins to Razor clams to salmon. Generally anything that would fall under Boldt, but does not include hunting or on reservation harvest. The shell fish and crab releases are a little hard to follow as they are all done by harvest area, which may or may not be easily recognizable. Depending on the time of the year, anywhere from 3 or 4 a week to 5 or 6 a day may be sent out.
One last thing to note is that there are not any releases from the Columbia river treaty tribes, so they might be providing there scheduled fisheries some where else.