Decision Time for Fishing Policy Makers

A recent decision by a US and Canadian Fishery Management Team is going to increase fishing opportunities in Washington State over the next 10 years. At the same time, the opportunity is going to cause policy makers to really dig deep and make some difficult decisions about priorities and protocol.

From the perspective of our industry and the hundreds of thousands of recreational anglers in our state, the first priority is conservation. By that we mean, conserving the wild salmon stocks and getting them off the endangered species list.

No questions asked - Fishing and fishing opportunities are critical to the success of our industry. Increasing fishing opportunities is the ultimate litmus test for our whole fishing efforts so here is how the recent US Canada Treaty fits into the puzzle.

In June, the Puget Sound media reported with little fanfare, a new agreement between the United States and Canada called the U.S.-Canada Salmon Treaty. Since the last treaty was negotiated, under the Governor Locke administration, Alaska and Canada continued to harvest northwest chinook salmon at a high rate, making it very challenging to achieve conservation goals for ESA protected species. Under the new negotiated treaty, Alaska has reduced its interception of northwest produced chinook salmon and Canada followed suit. The results are huge.

Beginning in 2009, for the ensuing 10 years Washington will be provided with an escort from Alaska to our waters of an estimated 100,000 chinook salmon each year, according to Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife Director Jeff Koenings. This is basically, 100,000 king salmon we have not witnessed in our state in the last 20-25 years. This is a big deal for recovery and selective fishing.

First and foremost, this revised treaty will provide instant results of wild chinook salmon on their natal spawning rivers. Second, since about two-thirds of the 100,000 chinook returning home are hatchery-produced fish, it provides an excellent opportunity to take major steps forward to expand selective fishing. We will be working aggressively with selective fishing and mass marking champion Congressman Norm Dicks to gain access to these hatchery stocks bound for Puget Sound streams along with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. We will be challenging the Governor’s Office, the Legislature and the Department to develop a plan that shares in the conservation of new returning wild chinook salmon stocks while expanding current selective fishing opportunities to access hatchery produced chinook salmon.

I am also proud that we have been at the front of the line to support conservation of wild salmon. We support the need for conservation actions in the salmon season setting process, and we have built a relationship, through our Northwest Salmon Derby Series, that fishing tournaments are linked with conservation as they target healthy hatchery stocks and avoid conflicts with wild salmon stocks requiring protection.
 
I have further learned, and remain convinced that the future of salmon fishing in the Pacific Northwest evolves around the axis of “selective fishing.” Selective fishing is simply a fish management buzz word that means harvesting adipose fin-clipped hatchery salmon while releasing wild chinook and coho salmon, bearing their natural adipose fin.
This relatively new program, marking all hatchery produced coho and chinook salmon, is in full swing and it is our objective to help develop the expansion of sport salmon fishing seasons through selective fishing. At the same time, removing hatchery produced salmon is a good thing as it prevents hatchery salmon reproducing with wild salmon, protecting the history and genetic strength of wild salmon.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can make a difference, please contact our Director of Fishing Affairs, Tony Floor (360-870-1752; tony@nmta.net). I also welcome you to become involved in Fish Northwest, a non-profit organization we founded three years ago to help public policy decision makers understand the connection between recreational fishing and the $4 billion economic impact our industry has on the State of Washington.

I firmly believe sport salmon fishing in Washington has a future. And, I am also convinced our industry belongs at the table to help develop these fishing seasons for years to come. In the months ahead, we will be meeting and discussing these issues with fish policy makers and start to give notice that our industry is watching how they allocate these new fish.

With warm regards,

Michael Campbell
President
michael@nmta.net