A science and research-based conservation ecology organization headquartered just outside Seattle, Washington, Wild Fish Conservancy is dedicated to the preservation, protection and restoration of the Northwest's wild fish and the delicate ecosystems in which they live.
Exceptions for tribal members, their indiscriminate fishing practices, and habitat destruction are the largest contributors to the disappearance of our wild stocks - not non-tribal commercial hook-and-line fisheries or recreational anglers. These fisheries have very little impact on wild populations, as wild fish are usually required to be released. Catch-and-release mortality rates are estimated at 10%, but that figure is much lower when the fish are handled properly. Meanwhile, the tribes are destroying the wild populations with purse seining and gillnetting. But sure - ban bait, boats, and hatcheries for the rest of us... That'll solve the problem! Shame on DFW, tribal "leaders", and WFC for creating a problem and pretending like the guy with a fishing pole is the one to blame.
As a WFC representative, and former southeast Alaskan troller, I think it would be a great idea if you came back to Sitka and conveyed the detailed wisdom that your organization is using to shut down your former fishery. I do believe you would have some intelligent debate though with facts to the contrary of this travesty. Sickening!
This is not commercial fishing. All is needed is a low payed worker and a processor. This form of extracting fish would destroy every fishing community on the coast. The State of Alaska became a State to eliminate fish traps. Why? The traps all ended up being owned by the processors and the money from fish sales ended up in the hands of a few processor owners.The traps devastated the stocks and destroyed the fishing fleet in Alaska! How quickly we forget. Fisheries that are generally inefficient like salmon trolling require the employment of more people and harvest a smaller percentage of the total run than more efficient methods like gillnets or seine. This form of fishing has been under attack by graduate’s of Univ of Washington Fisheries Program, people who actually no almost nothing about commercial fishing( in their great wisdom they gave us salmon farms!) I am a seafood wholesaler and retailer and these fish caught in the river would never be able to compete with farmed New Zealand King like Ora King. Once they enter the river; the quality of the meat is already in decline and inferior to most farmed salmon. If we harvest Chinook in this manner we will be handing the farmed salmon the biggest present they could ever ask for. Let’s stop screwing around and get working on the real solution-Dam Removal and habitat restoration!
As I understand it, the upper Columbia Colville Native Americans are also using a purse seiner and fish traps to sort hatchery stock from wild fish. Columbia River gill nets need to be banned, period, They're non-selective and extremely destructive to wild fish and non-target species like endangered Idaho B-run steelhead. Sport fishermen adhere to strict catch & release regulations. It's way past time for commercial interests to practice sustainable fishing devices like fish traps and purse seines.
U say they swim along with hatchery fish ..how long have they done this? Have they enter mixed with wild fish?is there a wild fish anymore ? There will never be a wild fish in any rivers.hatchery fish have been enterduced in they have entermixed for years! This is not a way to fix the problem this way u talk about will destroy are population of fish cause most of your so called natives are half breeds or unclipped fish away. The way to fix the problem is to keep putting fish in the rivers cause u already destroyed these native runs
Any effort to save salmon and steelhead are good, I don’t believe this is the fix all solution because the stocks they’re handling are still endangered. I want to see a video from you guys about the lower 4 snake river dams removal that didn’t get passed that would open thousands of miles for these fish. That could do a lot for these fish, the way we harvest has great impacts but we all know the main reason for declining fish runs is habitat. That’s why we made hatcheries to begin with, to keep healthy populations while having industrial growth. Big picture is there are a few dams we could tear down to really help save salmon, Hard to believe this is our answer to saving the wild fish. Will it help get them upriver, sure. Will it help them survive up river, no.
So great to see this happening there. To hear that Pound Trap fishing is coming back to your area with this type of research is awesome. On Long Island we still have a dozen or so traps left and to know you all have got a permit after 40 years is great. Here is a video we produced on our Pound Traps: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t5TLZOeezXg.html&ab_channel=CCEMarineProgram enjoy and good luck with this project. We also have a podcast on the pound trap fishing as well.
In my opinion, it needs to be improved, fish traps are the future, and we all need to change, or there will not be any anadromous fish to spawn in the rivers around the Pacific Northwestern States, like Steelhead & Salmon.
Welcome to the state of Washington. where we talk a big game spend our money studying impacts then have nothing left to implement a solution. Morons!!!!
This is a great idea at first glance, but unfortunately sea lions will eventually figure out this very easy opportunity. If you moved this practice further up river, you'd at least have an opportunity to keep the sea lion numbers in check. Cathlamet? No chance. To represent any differently to the many people who have no clue on what the sea lion populations are like in the lower 75 miles of the Columbia River is very misleading. Those fish will never make it out the back of the trap and many will in fact be eaten at the bottom end of the trap unless the sea lions are already preoccupied. If you're saying this isn't an issue, I love to hear when you're testing as the sea lion populations fluctuate between spring, summer and fall as you probably know.
Indigenous people have fished the Columbia River for centuries before contact. The fish was plentiful. Indigenous families never took more than their need. How will the indigenous fishers be included in these new fisheries on the Columbia? I cannot donate until I know they have their involvement and fair share in these new Fisher pens. Marilyn Wandrey
Isn't Wild Fish Conservancy part of the lawsuit to shut down Willamette River Summer Steelhead hatcheries above Willamette Falls. Willamette River Keepers and Wild Fish Conservancy I believe are behind that lawsuit. I believe the lawsuit is an exaggeration of what is going on. Truth is the Wild Winter Steelhead they claim to be protecting are being decimated by other things. Like the Sea Lions sitting in the fish ladder. Most Sea Lions have been removed which is good. Big numbers of wild Winter Steelhead went over the falls after that.
So what about the Indians up above the Columbia River from where the fish trap is located Continue to use nets for the wild species of fish like Steelhead & Salmon. Should be a restriction for the Indians also for the wild species. The rules also policies should change for Indians to make a difference for the futures?
I don't think so being they are the ones that invented the pound net trap system, I would think later on they would be able to obtain a permit of Their Own!
Filmed by the WFC...who we can all thank for decreased fishing opportunities, which equates to lost tax revenue from sportsmen, which in turn decreases available funds to protect our Wild fish and habitat restoration efforts. Thanks a lot for nothing, Wild Fish Conservancy!
Catch and release only... just saying. Im from the North east, people pretty much follow the stocking trucks around and just take all the trout home after they hit the water. Honestly, how much food can you get from a 9" stocker!?!? we dont have to fish for survival anymore.
Very persuasive. Note the comment he made though, " The first years we stopped stocking native brown trout stocks doubled, rainbows almost as much.". Yea right = a miracle in less than one breeding season -almost overnight in fact. Doesn't happen like that does it.
Excellent. And true. Now we have politicians pushing for Federal money to keep national hatcheries open under the pretense of fighting for "conservation funding". Shut down the hatcheries, use the money on habitat, and let science, not politics manage trout streams.
i work for a fish & wildlife program in northern idaho..i am not a biologist but have worked in the fisheries program for 12 years..We do a lot of the same kind of things you guys are doing in your video..It's very cool to know there are other people in the northwest that are opening up fish barriers all over the place..we mainly deal with westslope cutthrroat trout..but anyways VERY COOL! Keep up the good work and we will do the same!
Nice! I've snorkeled with many large Bull trout in the Wenatchee. They are always a treat! The upper Icicle has many great snorkel spots as well. Come on over and check out my channel dedicated to river snorkeling.
Wow. I'm working on a project for Dardanelle, Arkansas, to model a flood if the dam were to burst and the lake water spilled out into the river by the city. How did you do this? I figured up how much water is in the lake and have a TIN of the city area, but can't find a way to simulate a flood.
