another big dead stealhead.

[shawn kempkes]

This was caught earlier this week in the Hoh by a tribal gillnetter. Its amazing that there are any of these left with all the pressure they get from the nets.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/fishhawk1/0105101358b.jpg





This is how they net http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds5qinbLmT4


Those fish netted in the video were on the reds.

[Ned Morris]

This was caught earlier this week in the Hoh by a tribal gillnetter. Its amazing that there are any of these left with all the pressure they get from the nets.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v689/fishhawk1/0105101358b.jpg





This is how they net http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds5qinbLmT4


Those fish netted in the video were on the reds.

Thanks for posting this. Now I couldn't be more PO'd. What angers me the most is that these fish will end up at Pike's Place Fish Market or somewhere else where it will fetch a hefty sum. So much for tribal use. Kills me to think what could be happening on CA coastal rivers. Total blatant disregard and unsustainable practice for a natural resource. When are people in the Fed. gov't going to act on this? Should send this to Sec. of Interior Ken Salazar.:angry:

[Mrs.Finsallaround]

Tribal tradition (from: http://www.redding.com/news/2009/nov/08/are-gill-nets-decimating-klamath-and-trinity/?partner=RSS)

The state outlaws gill nets on rivers, but they are allowed on waters running through the Yurok and Hoopa Valley reservations that are governed by the separate tribes.

Flanking 44 river miles from the mouth of the Klamath at the Pacific Ocean to the river's confluence with the Trinity River, the Yurok Reservation is centered on the river. Just upstream from the Yurok Reservation, the Hoopa Valley Reservation is a 12-mile-by-12-mile square - 144 square miles in all. It is similarly river-driven.

Gill nets allow a salmon to swim partway through their mesh. Cinching around the fish's body, the nets trigger a salmon's instinct to swim backward when they encounter an obstacle. When they do that, they become ensnared in the net by their gills.

The technique is a traditional one, used for centuries by American Indians along the rivers, said Hostler, the spokeswoman for the Hoopa Valley Tribe.

"We used to make them out of iris twine," she said.

Today, the nets are made of thick, braided synthetic fishing line and held afloat by plastic foam. Hostler said the nets in the river on the reservation are usually 50- or 100-feet wide and tribal laws restrict them from covering more than a third of the river.

Tradition dictates placement of the nets, said Hoopa gill netter Ferris - whose uncle jokingly said he felt like a can of Spam when he was a newborn baby, giving him a nickname that stuck.

"Everyone knows your spot and protects your spot," Ferris said.

He said today he takes his grandchildren fishing and the fish they catch go to his large family and elders in the tribe.

Hostler said tribal fishery officials and law enforcement officers also police the river, making sure those using gill nets are following tribal laws.

Leaders from the two tribes meet each year to set a division of the tribal allotment. This split is 80 percent to the Yurok and 20 percent Hoopa, reflecting the larger size of the Yurok tribe, Hostler said. The Yurok have 5,500 members and the Hoopa 2,500 members.

This year, the members of the Hoopa Valley Tribe have caught about 4,000 fish of their 6,128 allotment, said Mike Orcutt, who heads the Hoopa Valley Tribal Fisheries Department.

The Yurok have caught 24,000 salmon, only 720 fish short of this year's allotment, said Troy Fletcher, a policy analyst for the tribe.

"We are pretty close to the end of the season," Fletcher said.

Upriver on the Hoopa Valley Tribe Reservation, the run continues.

Orcutt said on a busy day there are as many as 50 gill nets in the water on the reservation, but he said there hasn't been an increase in the number of nets this year.

He said he has seen reports on angling Web sites questioning whether the tribe is exceeding its allotment this year.

"Our answer is we are in our harvest objectives; we haven't gone over our harvest objectives," Orcutt said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dunno where the steelhead in the picture was caught, but....

[big bug]

It should be noted that the Hoh and Quilleute Tribes are in Washington where there tend to be more and bigger fish.

[shawn kempkes]

It should be noted that the Hoh and Quilleute Tribes are in Washington where there tend to be more and bigger fish.

The Hoh has not met its escapement goal 3 of the last five years and the quillayute system failed to make its escapement last year by 25 % less. the fishing on the quillayute sucked last year right up until the third week of march because the tribe stopped netting because they were over their quota. Two years ago the Hoh tribe took 70 % of the harvestable quota of steelhead.
I wouldn't necessarily say there are more fish in these rivers than in california either. The steelhead and salmon populations are on the downward spiral here because of the constant pressure that these fish recieve.

[big bug]

I was just reading the regulations in Washington, and in several rivers everyone in the state can take one wild steelhead per year. This includes the Hoh and several other rivers. Maybe the regulations should be changed.

[big bug]

The population of Washington is 6,500,000 +:paranoid:

[shawn kempkes]

I was just reading the regulations in Washington, and in several rivers everyone in the state can take one wild steelhead per year. This includes the Hoh and several other rivers. Maybe the regulations should be changed.


There have been several proposals to do it this year. But i cant see it happening. Also
the tribes will claim forgone opportunity and net and kill more fish.


you can read more about the hoh here.

http://www.fedflyfishers.org/Portals/0/Osprey/TheOsprey_62.pdf

[wjorg]

Ive been on the Hoh when two jet boats were on each shore with a gill net between them, driving down the river getting ALL the fish. ALL. No ifs, ands or buts...

Washington "Winter Salmon" sold at your local safeway...

[mr. 3 wt.]

I'm a loss for word. In this day and age they still allow this sh!t!

[big bug]

This truly is a shame. What's even worse is this is a repeating cycle every year. I took this subject up with my future brother-in-law who's a federal fish bio. We both spoke of lack of accountability in the Washington, Oregon, Idaho management apparatus. Below is a copy of the email he sent me concerning the deliberate management to extinction of wild stocks in Washington by WDFW as outlined recently by Sam Wright.

"Until someone's job or agency is on the line and accountable for failed wild stocks, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California salmon will suffer. At this point, any co-manager can point the blame around the table as someone else's problem for the demise. WDFW will blame USFWS, tribes or NOAA. USFWS will blame agriculture, logging, state and tribal run hatcheries, and NOAA permitting. NOAA will blame hatcheries, tribes, and genetic integrity (e.g. WDFW hatcheries). It's a revolving door of blame that occurs for all these states. The point is, there isn't anyone truly accountable for the health of these stocks. So when they fail, nobody is actually responsible.

When stocks fail in Alaska (which rarely happens) or BC, there is one and only one agency and to blame, Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game and Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans. When this happens, ADFG salmonid evaluators lose their jobs, and DFO biologists get canned. Until the states take full responsibility, or the FEDS take it over, this cycle will rinse and repeat."

.................................. so very true. So what can be done to add a level of accountability?

Grizz

[SFMike]

Big Bug pointed out very well that you can still keep a wild steelhead in Washington State. And here is California, I think you can still keep a wild steelhead on the Smith. Why are people not outraged about that??? I don't support the gill-netting the the tribes do, but you sure can't blame everything on them. If you really want to do something instead of just getting angry on web forums, look at where the water from our steelhead and salmon streams is being diverted and what it goes to. I might be wrong, but I think that the big salmon kill we had on the Klamath in 2004 was because the alfalfa farmers up there diverted too much water from the river. And what was that alfalfa being used for? Cattle feed. I was so angry that I don't eat beef anymore just for that reason.

[norcal tom]

SFmike did the fish kill really turn you into a vegetarian thats some awsome will power bro

[trinity]

Someone told me the other day that this is the last year wild fish will be allowed to be killed on the Smith. Anyone know if this is the case?

[SFMike]

Hey Tom,
Yeah, that's more or less it. It was easy once I started. But I'm not vegetarian, I'll still eat salmon and other fish as long as they're not farmed or endangered.

[Ned Morris]

I was really wondering how long a take of Wild Steelhead was going to continue on the Smith. I really hope that the take of all wild fish (Salmon & Steelhead) is prohibited on the Smith River for a long while. Too many damn boats and guides that fish the hell out of it. Now what about the Indians who net there??????

[wjorg]

I heard last year was the last year for killing Wild Fish on the Smith.

2010 Regs will not allow it is the word.

Hitler had a yellow skull because he was a vegetarian.....Cliff Clavin fact of the day...

Anyone make calls to Washington DFG? Pretend you are a local and complain....

[jhalden]

You are still allowed to keep wild steelhead on the Smith in 2010.

And I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure that netting is illegal on the Smith for the Indians.

[wjorg]

Netting is not illegal on the Smith for indians.

The wardens wont enforce it because they are afraid to lose in court.

If they lose in court, then the local natives might gill net more than at night...

[pvsprme]

You are still allowed to keep wild steelhead on the Smith in 2010.

And I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure that netting is illegal on the Smith for the Indians.

Effective March 1, 2010 NO WILD steelhead may be kept onthe Smith!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wjorg]

....unless you are Native American.