Gary Loomis' Talk and Matt Kayser Executive Director of CCAPNW

There is truly so much to discuss and I can't get to it all in one entry. I would like to encourage people to send me their comments. I can post them anonymously or not. Thanks to all of you that came and showed your support.

I was slightly disappointed in the turnout last night. The group of people that showed were a great mix. There are so many people that said they were coming and didn't. Too much nice weather, I suppose.

The next meeting will be even more important because we will build the foundation for our local chapter and decide what the issues are that we feel are most important. We were donated a spot by Semiahmoo Resort but that might be too far out to draw the crowd we need. The members in Burlington, Mt. Vernon, Oak Harbor and Anacortes may want to join us until we are large enough to split. My goal is to get Matt Kayser to return and lead us through our initial setup.

Keep posted here or drop me an email. April 17 is the date we have set for now.

The Bellingham area was built on commercial fisheries. How many of those families are still in it? How many of those fishermen, fish here? Probably very few. There were some people there last night showing concern for the economy, the jobs and the livelihoods at stake that our fisheries have supported for so long. I am a relative newcomer to Washington and cannot say that I know the whole picture yet. I spent 2 hours on the phone with a local who has commercially gill netted and seined the Copper River near Cordova, Alaska for 30 years. He was interested in CCA but had a completely different picture of the problems. Or at least he weighed the problems in a different order. He said "habitat". Not that he is wrong and we know it is a really big problem, but we have heard that one a lot. He said that because they are strictly regulated in area E (where he fishes) he claims they have had virtually no bi-catch in all his 30 years. In fact, he claims that the runs are getting better and better. As we heard last night, Alaska just had the largest harvest in history. Bill said it was the large pink run last year. My question is, even if the runs are getting better there, should we be harvesting more and driving the price of wild fish down to where we are selling the majority overseas at $1.95 a salmon? No. Let these fish thrive and use a simple theory of supply and demand. Alaska is really a different kettle of tea and CCA knows that.

We need to embrace and include the commercial fishermen, but they need to do the same for us. We have to have everybody working together to make changes. We can ask nicely for help a couple of times, but if there is no cooperation from the commercial side then it is going to be "no more mister nice guy!" We have to remove some of the variables in the salmon and steelhead cycle and see where the populations are failing in the Pacific Northwest. If 80% of the Puget Sound salmon runs are being harvested in the ocean, then we need to remove some of that variable and see what happens. 120,000 chinook incidentally caught be polluck trollers is certainly a significant bi-catch. It may not happen in area E or M but it is happening out there.

A question I received was "okay, the man is drowning in a pool, has a sprained ankle, and has prostate cancer. If we are supposed to save him from drowning and we feel that a large percent of our fish are being non-selectively harvested in Alaska, shouldn't CCA be aiming its targets at Alaska?" This is a valid question. I would really like to see the numbers for harvest up close. I will see if Gary can send me some of those graphs. Hypothetically, if CCAPNW says "Alaskan harvest is the only problem", everyone is going to laugh at us. Look at our habitat degradation and logging practices, look at our population along the coast (do you think we might have a little pollution killing some salmon fry?), look at our commercial netting practices, look at our hatchery science for the last 100 years, look at all the dams, look at our farming practices, look at how we take care of our lawns, and look at all the ghost nets in the Puget Sound and coastal waters, etc etc. We have to fix the leaks on our own plumbing before we can go out and put the wrench to someone else's pipes.

So, you ask, what is CCA doing. Their first order of business is to change the way fish are harvested to make it more selective. People have asked what CCA's position on hachery vs. wild fish is and I think this plainly shows it. The most selective form of harvest is done by sportsmen. Members of the wild steelhead coalition are sportsmen (I am a member). We take care of the wild fish we catch but we still catch them. If netting practices are made more selective and the wild fish can be set free unharmed, does this not show that CCA is pro wild fish? CCA is working first on the Columbia River basin because that is where the largest number of CCAPNW members are from right now. Hey what about my river you say? If they win on the Columbia, that sets a precedent and allows easier and further wins on Puget Sound Rivers. Don't think that aren't a lot of CCA members in Seattle/Tacoma area. As Gary and Matt put it last night, you can't eat an elephant in one bite.

Hatcheries? CCA is not taking a firm stand on hatcheries at this time as far as I can tell. Matt Kayser, who is the right, very smart man for the job, pointed out that if this were 20 years ago and our wild stocks were still good we might be able to do away with many hatcheries and save those wild runs. We can still do that on some rivers we have but not many. Do you like to fish? We may not be able to fish for completely native run rivers. I think we need to have a few of these rivers, do you want to volunteer your river? Let's look at the Cowlitz, dam after dam, hatchery after hatchery. Are there any pure native strains left in that river? It is probably a good candidate for a continued hatchery put and take fishery. We need some of those to. Not everyone gets satisfaction like fly fishermen do.

Whew!!!!!! Where am I, what next? Anyone else going to ever comment on my blogs or just let me ramble and through it on the table?

Something has to be done and CCA has the proven track record to make it happen. I want to end with a plug for an article by Patrick McGann in Salmon & Steelhead Journal Winter 2008 Volume 5 Issue 1. Titled "Tide Turns on Northwest Fishing Advocacy". Pick it up and read it. The writing style is a little harsh but it smooths out after a page or so. Yes, you fly fishermen, buy it even though the steelhead on the cover has one of those pink worms hanging from its mouth. We just wish we could find a fly that successful! Anyway, Patrick points out a piece of journalism on the Gulf Coast fisheries that won a Pulitzer for public service and work. Check out the link: http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1997/public-service/works/6-2/
McGann quotes a Louisiana gill netter from the paper "I mean, it was no contest. Sudden, complete dominance. This is a rare thing in politics." That's CCA. He continues to talk about CCA's winning track record and its four part formula: "1. Get people, lots of them....2. get money, lots of it...lawyers and PR firms don't get paid in righteousness...3.Communicate, lots...4.And finally, advocacy." Pick up the article and read it. And join CCA. Now.

Nooksack Season Wrap-up

So, did you catch all the fish you wanted this season? I didn't, but I sure love the Nooksack and I saw some beautiful fish this winter. This is just one of the reasons that I am getting involved with CCA. Here is my plan with my two separate bloggs. This blogg "Classes and Outings" will be reserved for information on fishing, events, classes, outings and will be the place to come and find the "calendar". My other blogg, Angler on the Fly, will be the platform for discussion on fisheries, Coastal Conservation Association, and local fisheries related issues. Right now I am writing a report of last evenings talk by Gary Loomis and the CCA. An honest report. I hope to have it posted by this afternoon. Thanks to all of you that came last night.

Back to the Nooksack. The season. When were the fish around and where were they? I can't give it all up but I will tell that December was a good month. The hatchery steelhead run was good as was predicted. The hatchery got their numbers and then some. So, the hatchery on the North Fork will stay viable for more years to come. I know there are many opinions on this subject, but hatcheries are not going away and we need to embrace the need for them on certain river systems. Without them we not have a fishing season for salmon and steelhead on many rivers, especially with the ESA listing for Puget Sound steelhead. I will beat this subject up some more on my other blog. The coho came from September through February. Sounds crazy doesn't it. I have been told that there are coho in the Nooksack year round. So next year, don't skip those back eddies. The bulk of the run from the south fork came in October. The North Fork run was late and came mainly throughout December (remember the NF is only open for Salmon in October, which was funny this year because there really weren't any then).

The steelhead at times held in interesting places. Often tucked so far under root balls that a fly fishermen had no chance to get them out. This is partially because the water was so clear for so much of the winter. The first person to head through a run, if they didn't hook the fish, may have spooked it into hiding. A tactic, I have seen a few jet boat fishermen use to get steelhead out of shallow water (fly fishing water), into their water (deep water). I witnessed this, unfortunately, but it is very effective (I am not making a generalization on gear fishermen here because I know lots of great gear fishermen). It was a good year to be on the main stem with great clarity all the way down to Lynden for much of the season. But then something happened on the South Fork. Even at low flows of 300 cfs the South was pumping chocolate. I have talked this up with many people that have never seen it this bad. I am going for a nice hike soon to figure this out because I am concerned for this river. We should all be. We don't want another Deer Creek situation do we?

The bi-catch on the Nooksack was pretty slow this season until February when the lower North Fork started to see some more dolly varden hanging out waiting for the alevins. The dolly varden population is still rebounding from the 2003 and 2005 floods that happened right during their spawn. This has been a pretty good year for their spawn and salmon spawn which is great. There is a big snow pack out there and hopefully the weather can hold for the wild steelhead spawn in March/April. Winter steelhead pick a tough timing window. It would seem that the fry need to get out of the gravel before the summer high water comes. I do need to check the science on this...I will. Where were the whitefish this winter? It seems to me they were around early right below the chum and then they showed up in late February right above the highway 9 bridge. You ask why this is significant? Where there are whitefish, there are dolly's.

I want to thank everyone that came out with me this winter and all of the wonderful people I met on and off the river. The steelhead catch was slightly down this year, even according to the gear fishermen, but it was a great season with good clarity, great water levels, and lots of "swingable" water (even on the North Fork).