Scary Stuff and Coho

Posted: March 21, 2016 by Hellcat in Fish Reports



As I mentioned in the post talking about salmon predictions for 2016, the scary part are the predcictions on coho runs and how they could affect other fishing. Here is a recent post from the Columbia Basin Bulletin on the matter. Be sure and see the end of the article talking about the opportunity for public comment.

20141012_102801_resized

    YES or NO??


OCEAN SALMON FISHING ALTERNATIVES: DUE TO POOR COHO RETURNS ONE OPTION CONSIDERS CLOSING ALL FISHING

Poor forecasts for returning coho salmon are prompting state and tribal fishery managers to consider closing all salmon fisheries in Washington’s ocean waters this year as part of a federal season-setting process for the west coast.

State, tribal and federal fishery managers have developed three options for non-treaty ocean salmon fisheries that reflect the anticipated low coho returns. Two options would permit some salmon fishing this year, but one would close recreational and commercial ocean fisheries for chinook and coho salmon.

Those alternatives were approved Sunday for public review by the Pacific Fishery Management Council, which establishes fishing seasons in ocean waters three to 200 miles off the Pacific coast.

A public hearing on the three alternatives for ocean salmon fisheries is scheduled for March 28 in Westport.

The PFMC will select a final alternative at their next meeting in Vancouver, Washington on April 9-14. Detailed information about season starting dates, areas open, and catch limits for all three alternatives are available on the council’s website athttp://tinyurl.com/salmon2016.

Posted on Friday, March 18, 2016 http://www.cbbulletin.com/436257.aspx

Comments
  1. Hellcat says:

    Wow. This is pretty heavy duty shit. I personally welcome it if it’s necessary and not commercially motivated politics at the financial expense of sport anglers.

  2. James Evans says:

    Well that’s a bunch of b******* sad to hear the numbers are so low

  3. Sal Monid says:

    It is worth remembering that these are predictions but they will likely end up driving the decisions that are made. I definitely don’t like the prospect of having the fishery shut down but with bad ocean conditions for Coho, I am in favor of being conservative.

  4. Chromehammer says:

    Fisheries are always managed around constraints. That is to say that when a certain stock, (i.e. Coho) for example, is in low abundance and their numbers can be impacted upon, even in a non target fishery like a chinook fishery, the target fishery can be constrained due to those impacts. A good example the last couple years is the impacts of tule harvest on the entire Buoy 10 fishery, since the tule stocks the past few years have been sub par. Long story short, whichever the constraining stock happens to be, your impacts (i.e. Kept & released mortality) to that stock are limited. When the impact limit is reached, closures occur.

    This year, a more conservative approach, in regards to coho, is being taken in order to avoid a potential repeat of last year’s hatchery brood shortfalls that occurred across both state lines. As far as it being commercially beneficial, I can’t see how so. Coho are not a cash crop in commercial fisheries and have never been, especially in super low abundance. That is to say, you don’t see commercial netters going out every year and making their nut on coho in a chinook dominated market.

    There is my take on this topic. My hopes however are that we do get to have at least some allowable harvest in those upcoming sport fisheries. Great weather, good fishing, I love it and it’s a huge benefit to coastal businesses/communities. A zero retention season might benefit the coho for sure, but would have a noticeable economic impact on the negative side.

  5. Sal Monid says:

    Well said. I suppose the big issue is that if we don’t conserve the fish things will suck for the fish, the fisherman and the local economy. From what I have seen, anglers are usually willing to back a conservative approach if it is legitimate and implemented fairly across various groups (sports fisherman, commercial, tribal etc.).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *