The Outdoor Line Forum

Perhaps Nelly or someone can answer the following:

(Note: I've fished Puget Sound for over 45 years)

The current season for Chinook salmon in Puget Sound and elsewhere is projected to be bleak at best. This apparently is based on WDFW and co-managers projections. However, over multiple past years, the seasons have been getting shorter and shorter (to nothing at all in some areas such as 8-1 and 8-2). These closures have occurred even though during most of these seasons, the winter fishery has been severely restricted because there are way too many sublegals. This raises the obvious question of "what happened to all of those sublegals?" In past decades we used to fish right through these large "encounters" and still have viable summer seasons. Although some of this can be blamed on the "blob" (i.e., warmer water offshore), the sublegals since that blob disappeared have largely been untouched due to closures. Some may blame this on protection of ESA listed Chinook. However, over many seasons, I have released "native" Chinook adults and believe that they have nearly a 100 percent survival. So, bottom line, closures for too many fish (sublegals) which apparently disappear from the projections?

WDFW gives a 15% mortality rate to "encounters with native salmon"
but where do they get that number?
they have stopped or ended seasons early due to too many
"encounters"
According to NOAA's own website"
About how many salmon from one spawning pair live from the time they're laid to the time they return as adults?
Each female salmon can have between 1,500 and 10,000 eggs. Only a few (0 to 10) of these eggs will survive to be adult salmon. A population maintaining its size only produces one adult from each parent on average (two adults from each spawning pair), but it will be higher in some years and lower in others.
So with all the dangers for salmonids trying to make it from egg to spawn the survival rate is very dismal, so why do sports fishers who fish selectively get tagged with a higher mortality rate? This seems like a tool to pull out when they need to get us off the water....
It would seem that returning adult native ESA listed fish would be a much more important factor in saving the salmon, These fish in fact made it back and just need to spawn.... Sad that Commercial/Tribes kill ESA listed fish sell them for profit, take that profit pay off the Governor who appoints the WDFW director, puts the focus on selective sports fishers and the 15% mortality on shakers......rediculous.....corrupt.....

15% mortality is the widely accepted average throughout the Pacific coast. The smaller the fish the higher the mortality. For the undersized Chinook, mortality is probably very high, hence the closure. Just because they swim away does not mean they die within a week. The longer they are out of the water the higher the mortality.
This is a difficult subject to research - BC did some detailed research which I have read.
I firmly believe our "handling" rules make sense & are good.

FYI BC is contemplating severe Chinook restrictions - that catch about 75% of our Puget Sound Chinook, so we should be seeing more fish this summer.