...if we are trying to preserve wild chinook, then WHY
Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2011 8:10 am...is WDFW and the Muckelshoots dumping live hatchery chinook on top of wild kings on the spawning grounds???
Check out this letter from Sportco's Tom Pollock to WDFW's Pat Patillo... read on...
"Pat,
I am confused about a planting of hatchery chinook today above the
Soos Creek hatchery. I understand that the Muckelshoots got from the Soos
Creek holding area at the hatchery 500 male hatchery chinook and 500 female
hatchery chinook and transported them upstream to the Whitney bridge and
released them to spawn in the wild. I thought that the Green River upstream
was managed for wild stocks and now we are getting hatchery spawning in with
the natural spawners. The result will be in a few months outgoing unmarked
chinook. So much for marked selective fishing for the sportsmen and the
purest wild stocks. A new breed is being created for what purpose and so
much for all the data being collected on the wild spawning stocks.
Yesterday I was visiting the Soos Creek hatchery and witnessed
hatchery chinook being netted and put into totes to go to food banks. I did
see 20 to 30 totes being processed and I do not know haw many other times
this has happened. It sure would have been great to have had these surplus
fish available for a limited sports fishery in Elliott Bay.
Tom Pollack"
Here is WDFW's Pat Patillo's response:
"Tom,
I got your phone message and I'll put this topic on the agenda for our
October 26 Sport Fishing Advisory Group meeting at Mill Creek. WDFW will
bring more information about the status of hatchery surplus Chinook at Soos
Creek and the agreement between WDFW and Muckleshoot Tribe to transfer 1,000
adults onto the spawning ground. We put a large number of surplus hatchery
fish onto the spawning ground last year as well. I'm not sure what you
meant by "So much for marked selective fishing for the sportsmen and the
purest wild stocks", or "...so much for all the data being collected on the
wild spawning stocks". The data we've collected shows that hatchery fish
consistently comprise the majority of the natural spawning population. An
Elliott Bay sport selective fishery would not have eliminated that high rate
of hatchery straying, as we've been getting very large surpluses at the Soos
Creek Hatchery rack, including this year. The early, general indicators
point to a natural spawning Chinook population of only about 900 (compared
to the goal of 5,800). I agree that it would have been great if we could
have accessed those surplus hatchery fish with a sport fishery in Elliott
Bay, but that fishery would have increased the impact on the very low
natural population and we still would have had surplus fish at the hatchery.
We'll provide an opportunity to discuss these points on the 26th but I want
to focus on what we'll do next year, not rehash the 2011 season.
I look forward to discussing the issues with you at that time. If you need
to discuss it with me prior to the 26th, then let's set something up -
either a phone call or an in-person meeting.
Thanks Tom,
Pat"
My take on this? The State of Washington has entered into an "agreement" with the Muckelshoots to raise unclipped hatchery fish.
Since recreational anglers fish selectively, no one but the Muckelshoots will have the ability to harvest these unclipped, naturally spawned offspring of hatchery fish.
On the heels of the 2011 Elliott Bay recreational chinook closure which saw a Muckelshoot gillnet fishery as the only directed harvest, this behavior by the State stinks on ice.
I can personally promise you that this is not the last you'll hear of this issue.
Check out this letter from Sportco's Tom Pollock to WDFW's Pat Patillo... read on...
"Pat,
I am confused about a planting of hatchery chinook today above the
Soos Creek hatchery. I understand that the Muckelshoots got from the Soos
Creek holding area at the hatchery 500 male hatchery chinook and 500 female
hatchery chinook and transported them upstream to the Whitney bridge and
released them to spawn in the wild. I thought that the Green River upstream
was managed for wild stocks and now we are getting hatchery spawning in with
the natural spawners. The result will be in a few months outgoing unmarked
chinook. So much for marked selective fishing for the sportsmen and the
purest wild stocks. A new breed is being created for what purpose and so
much for all the data being collected on the wild spawning stocks.
Yesterday I was visiting the Soos Creek hatchery and witnessed
hatchery chinook being netted and put into totes to go to food banks. I did
see 20 to 30 totes being processed and I do not know haw many other times
this has happened. It sure would have been great to have had these surplus
fish available for a limited sports fishery in Elliott Bay.
Tom Pollack"
Here is WDFW's Pat Patillo's response:
"Tom,
I got your phone message and I'll put this topic on the agenda for our
October 26 Sport Fishing Advisory Group meeting at Mill Creek. WDFW will
bring more information about the status of hatchery surplus Chinook at Soos
Creek and the agreement between WDFW and Muckleshoot Tribe to transfer 1,000
adults onto the spawning ground. We put a large number of surplus hatchery
fish onto the spawning ground last year as well. I'm not sure what you
meant by "So much for marked selective fishing for the sportsmen and the
purest wild stocks", or "...so much for all the data being collected on the
wild spawning stocks". The data we've collected shows that hatchery fish
consistently comprise the majority of the natural spawning population. An
Elliott Bay sport selective fishery would not have eliminated that high rate
of hatchery straying, as we've been getting very large surpluses at the Soos
Creek Hatchery rack, including this year. The early, general indicators
point to a natural spawning Chinook population of only about 900 (compared
to the goal of 5,800). I agree that it would have been great if we could
have accessed those surplus hatchery fish with a sport fishery in Elliott
Bay, but that fishery would have increased the impact on the very low
natural population and we still would have had surplus fish at the hatchery.
We'll provide an opportunity to discuss these points on the 26th but I want
to focus on what we'll do next year, not rehash the 2011 season.
I look forward to discussing the issues with you at that time. If you need
to discuss it with me prior to the 26th, then let's set something up -
either a phone call or an in-person meeting.
Thanks Tom,
Pat"
My take on this? The State of Washington has entered into an "agreement" with the Muckelshoots to raise unclipped hatchery fish.
Since recreational anglers fish selectively, no one but the Muckelshoots will have the ability to harvest these unclipped, naturally spawned offspring of hatchery fish.
On the heels of the 2011 Elliott Bay recreational chinook closure which saw a Muckelshoot gillnet fishery as the only directed harvest, this behavior by the State stinks on ice.
I can personally promise you that this is not the last you'll hear of this issue.