Save our Fisheries! by Ed Megill

The Nooksack River Valley is an awesome place; one you could spend a lifetime exploring. I am out as much as I can be and many times with my good friend, Jason, a local guide here. But, when you are out there frequently, you see a lot of nets.

Being relatively new to the area, but not to fishing, we came up with a significant number of questions about those nets. Jason contacted Nooksack Tribal Enforcement to obtain information about Tribal netting activities, laws governing such, how, where, when, etc. Through that contact, good information was gathered.

We had also met up with a Washington Fish and Wildlife officer, checking licenses. We retained her card as a potential resource.

Having some basic knowledge on Tribal netting law, we began to call in nets which we knew to be illegally placed as well as abandoned, derelict nets. There has been some effort in response to our reports, but certainly not enough.

On a call to report an abandoned net, Nooksack Tribal Enforcement told Jason that if we could provide GPS coordinates for the net locations, it would make it easier for them to be found.

Prior to getting out with the GPS, Jason was guiding a trip and called to tell me he had just found a net, pulled onto river left, containing 18 dead and completely wasted fish. Six were hatchery steelhead. I was completely stunned.

This came at a time when the North Fork above Mosquito Lake Road had been closed to fishing due to low returns at the Kendall Creek Hatchery as they only had three steelhead back. Yes, three.

This net was originally spotted on 12/21/2007 and reported to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on 12/23/2007 as well as Nooksack Tribal Enforcement the following week. The name of the netter and his associated number were provided in both reports.

On 12/28/2007, on a subsequent guided trip, Jason discovered this net was still there along with a aluminum John boat wrapped on the bridge pilings just downstream. A new net, that had obviously fallen out of the boat, was hung up mid-river downstream of the boat. Photos of the boat with hull numbers and “new” net location were provided to Nooksack Tribal Enforcement on the evening of 12/28/2007. On Jason’s next guide trip on 12/30/2007, Jason noted that the boat had been removed yet the derelict net remained in mid-river.

On 1/9/2008, Constantine, another fishing buddy of ours, and I obtained the GPS coordinates of this net as well as for seven other derelict nets.

I called U.S. Fish and Wildlife thinking maybe we were just not getting to the right person. It seemed to me that Tribal would fall under Federal jurisdiction rather than State; however, I was referred back to WDFW, Mill Creek.

The locations of these eight derelict nets were provided via email to WDFW on 1/10/2008. I did not receive a reply of confirmation of receipt of this email; so, I left a message for one of our local WDFW enforcement officers. At a point when I was set to call again, I received a call from a WDFW enforcement officer. Conversation was had. The email apparently did not get forwarded to him; so, the GPS coordinates were provided directly to him on 1/29/2008.

The nets are still there as of February 1, 2008.

The worst part is that this net, with the 18 dead fish, will begin working again at a flow of approximately 5000cfs at the Cedarville station.

At that point, it will begin killing wild steelhead.

We will continue to follow up on this terrible problem to make sure that one way or another, these nets come off the river.

But, this leads to me to a point. I think we can all agree on one thing: our very favorite resource is in big trouble and, right now, we are on the very short end of the stick.

My wife and I are members of the Coastal Conservation Association (www.CCA-PNW.com) as well as other fine, problem-focused organizations. CCA is an exceptional organization though. They are an intelligent bunch with a proven track record in fishery’s recovery. They will formulate a solid plan and take action. I saw, first hand, the dramatic and positive difference CCA made for the Gulf Coast. My friends’ children will have fish to catch down there. Will yours here?

So, whether it’s CCA-PNW, WSC, NSEA, CREP it all matters…a lot. They are working hard to try to protect and improve the resource we love.

However, on the core issues here, we must absolutely band and stick together…period. The bottom line though is that YOU have to do your part; get educated, get involved and stay involved. If you don’t have time, give money.

Gary Loomis will be here on March 11th, 2008 to speak about our Pacific Northwest fisheries and CCA-PNW efforts; and, what you as an individual, can do about it. The location of this venue will be announced here in the near future.

Special thanks goes to Jason as a great mentor and for the use of his raft in obtaining the GPS coordinates. He has volunteered to be the interim President for a Whatcom County CCA chapter. This fine person certainly has my vote.

Thanks for reading. Let’s start working on getting this fixed. See you out there.

Ed Megill
emegill@cablespeed.com
360-303-7409