[11961]

It just warms my heart.
:thumb: to the Colville Tribe for leading the way in selective harvest fish management

 

[Mumbles]

I realize the purse seine process is not ideal in all waters, but I wonder if its live catch methodology can be adapted to the wild river systems where gill netting persists? Kudos to the Colville Federation.

 

[Split Bamboo]

If the State banned gill nets, which I believe they have the right to do, and demanded that all harvest resulted in low non target mortality, such as with Reef nets and Purse Seines, I am 100% positive the natives would figure out a way to get there 50% of allotted fish!

Crap, that was one long sentence!

 

[gt]

first the law banning fish traps, weirs and wheels will need to be expunged from this states past bigoted history. if and when that happens, you will see the age old methodologies come back into play and selective harvesting will indeed be here to stay.

 

[Salmo_g]

Using a purse seine for selective fishing in Wells reservoir near the Okanogan is a good alternative. This video is making the rounds on many fishing bulletin boards, and people are assuming the same method can be employed anywhere, everywhere else to selectively harvest hatchery fish and safely release wild ones. That's not the case.

Notice that the Colvilles are fishing hundreds of miles from saltwater, and they fish they are catching are mostly dark and of reduced market value. Purse seines are being experimented with on the lower Columbia River (LCR) by the non-treaty commercial fishery. However, that area is tidally influenced, and the salmon and steelhead have very loose scales and little slime layer. Any net, including a purse seine, causes massive scale loss, which leads to subsequent infection and mortality. The upside is that the wild fish can be released alive at the time, even if they won't survive long enough to spawn. I don't think it's a good idea in the LCR, altho it is a good alternative for the Colvilles.

The intelligent alternative for the LCR is to retrofit fish traps and modern sorting facilities at the Bonneville Dam and Willamette Falls fish ladders. The fish are a captive audience at those control points anyway, and modern trapping and sorting facilities could release wild fish with about a 98% survival rate, unlike any alternative being tested or contemplated.

Sg