12
Sno-King General Meeting
Tom 'Nellie' Nelson from KIRO 710 Outdoor
Line returns to Sno-King with his latest 'dirty
downrigger tricks' for catching big salmon
Happy New Year to all!
Last year was a pretty good year overall for the fishing
world with expanded crabbing and great runs of salmon.
Halibut seemed a little slow compared to years past in
the straits. Since we, PSA, wrote the proposal to bring
the straits halibut fishery forward, it had been very
good. The eastern straits were lacking overall. WDFW
numbers showed us under on our catch. Overall we should
see a small increase in our halibut quota for 2012, if
WDFW goes for the International Pacific Halibut
Commission staff’s recommendations. Our area 2A
(Washington/Oregon/California) and Area 2C (SE Alaska)
should see a small bump in their quota too. The rest are
going to take a pretty big cut in theirs for 2012. Last
year the Pacific Coast Halibut quota was set at 41
Million pounds. This year IPHC staff is recommending an
overall cut to 33 Million pounds . In 2003, this was
almost 75 Million pounds! We have some major problems
going on with this fishery. There has been a rule in
place in Alaska that U32s or under 32” halibut thrown
back are not reported in the commercial fishery. Maybe
its time to change that as those are tomorrows fish.
There are still huge commercial by-catch wastage
problems that exist.
In our halibut meetings I
have been hoping for the last couple of years that our
overall halibut decline is at the bottom, but it appears
that it is not. The experts say that there are as many
halibut in the ocean today as ever before, its just hey
are small. They are not sure if they are getting out
competed for food by the arrowtooth flounder or not.
There is no commercial value for Arrowtooth so they are
not taken and are at record numbers. These take away
quality food from the halibut. This is one theory. There
needs to be some sort of fishery put on arrowtooth, but
the meat is not quality.
The ocean Chinook fishery
was really good last year, but hindered by the ESA
listing of the Lower Columbia River Chinook or Tule.
This is probably going to be a problem again for us this
year. While last year the Chinook were in abundance, the
Tule listing made us cap our quota and keep restrictions
on our fishery. Alaska and BC got to hit the Chinook
hard while we paid for it out of what was left. Most
people do not know, but Alaska does not have to sit at
the table with us and BC at the NOAA level. Alaska takes
the salmon it wants and lower US and BC have to fight
over whats left. It forces BC to take our fish when
Alaska targets theirs. Its time that Alaska sits at the
table with all of us. But I doubt it will ever happen.
We need to all share in conservation of our ESA listed
salmon.
Our newly expanded crab
policy looks to have been successful for 2011. Our
compliance overall looks like we did better than in
previous years before, which is what we were working on
with WDFW. I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy
them with your family and friends. Don’t forget to turn
in your winter catch cards as they are due. We need
those in as soon as possible. Please do it online if
possible at
https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/wa/crabreport
This will expedite the crab counts so WDFW can do the
final tallies.
Those catch reports are due to WDFW by Feb. 1, 2012. For
more information on catch record cards, visit WDFW’s
website at
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/shellfish/crab/crc.html.
Please take time and go to
the Seattle Boat Show and Washington Sportsman Show in
Puyallup and enjoy them. Stop by the PSA booths and say
hi. Learn where a chapter is close to your home and join
it. Meet new friends at your local chapter and enjoy
Washington’s bounty.