Puget Sound Anglers State Board

Puget Sound Anglers

Welcome to the Puget Sound Anglers

Chapter Information

State Board Information

A clarification is in order on the thought process of allowing the low amount of commercials to remain on the Columbia River, per the Reel News. PSA has been involved with ocean sportfish season setting for about 12 years. We pushed to maximize sportfishing seasons and opportunity. Sport and Commercial are federally mandated. Commercials are a management tool. They are to catch the most hatchery fish possible keeping strays off the spawning beds. As years go by, there has been a shift towards the ratio of recreational fish getting larger while commercials shrinks, the hatchery stray rates on the spawning beds has vastly increased. Like it or not that is what is happening and causing hatchery production cuts. Hook and line angling is not efficient enough to catch the amount of fish that commercials can. The nets have been removed from the Puget Sound (coho and chinook) for over 10 years and we are in worse shape now. The WFC pound nets only caught 80 fish while 12-15000 fish swam as presented to the WDFW Commission.

There is a rule in federal fish management called pHOS (proportion of hatchery fish on the spawning grounds) that came from HSRG that is still in individual river plans. When the stray rate is too high, hatchery production is cut. We just got cut 4.8 Million Chinook on the LCR fall chinook stock! This reduces harvestable returning fish by 48,000!

PSA has been a leader in working with others to remove HSRG from the WDFW Commission salmon policy and increase salmon hatchery production. We worked with tribes and all agencies for over 6 long years to get an additional 23.9 million more salmon made for the Orcas and us fishers, in 2022. We can make as many hatchery fish as we want, as long as we catch them. If we cannot catch them then we cannot make them. PSA’s chapters have net pens and programs raising fish for all to catch.

We work with facts and not emotions. We must use cold hard facts in decision making. Cutting commercial nets out of the Columbia River will decrease hatchery production. The Lower Columbia River Fall Chinook is the prized ocean saltwater chinook that’s caught all the way to Alaska. The spring king benefits mostly Alaska and the in-river fishers as they go on the bite when in fresh water. Little to no benefit for us ocean fishers. If we could find a magic bullet that would give us another 100 days, we would support it. But it does not exist. Oregon has 280 commercial gill net licenses and if the amount drops below 200, more licenses can be issued. So why remove the last few in Washington state? This leaves an avenue for tribes to fill that commercial fishery and is a reality.

PSA will continue to fight to produce hatchery fish. Thanks to all of you that wrote letters to the WDFW Commission to move forward with the state/tribal hatchery policy. It had 87% response to move forward. We are going to keep working on increased hatchery production for you, your kids and grandkids to catch fish. I hope this helps. We will have NOAA back to our state board meeting once again for presidents to ask all of the questions needed as we did before.

Please join and support your local PSA Chapter.

Ron Garner President PSA

Point Nopoint Fiasco

Pod cast on Ocra Whales with Butch Smith from Coho Charters

Article on Salmon and Dams

Protecting Washington’s Yelloweye Rockfish

Rockfish Identification Flyer

Video - Rockfish are back!!

Did you know that some yelloweye rockfish that are here today were Washington residents before it became a state in 1889? They have been and continue to be an important part of our heritage.

Halibut and bottomfish fishing have also been a part of Washington’s culture for hundreds of years. Many generations of fishermen have relied on halibut and bottomfish for food and recreation.

Fishery Management

A recent stock assessment indicates that the yelloweye rockfish population has declined over 80% from its initial level. As a result, immediate action must be taken if the stocks of these long-lived fish are to be rebuilt.

To rebuild yelloweye rockfish populations, the harvest opportunities for this species must be severely curtailed. In recent years, the Pacific Fishery Management Council has set yelloweye rockfish harvest levels for all commercial, recreational, and tribal fisheries combined for California, Oregon, and Washington of about 17 metric tons (mt). This number includes yelloweye rockfish that are discarded at sea.

The Washington recreational harvest target is about 2.7 mt (fewer than 1,000 fish) in coastal waters. To put this in perspective, in 2001, the Washington recreational fishery harvested 15 mt.

Halibut Fishery in Jeopardy

Yelloweye rockfish, in general, are harvested during the Washington recreational halibut fishery. If the yelloweye rockfish catch is projected to exceed 2.7 mt, then Pacific ocean waters adjacent to Washington outside 25 fathoms will be closed to recreational bottomfish fishing (including halibut).

If yelloweye rockfish cannot be avoided when anglers are targeting halibut, then we may have to close recreational halibut fishing in the future to protect yelloweye rockfish. Because the yelloweye rockfish stock may not be rebuilt for over 100 years, the problem of managing the yelloweye fishery will continue through our lifetime; however, you have the ability to help save the halibut fishery now and preserve the yelloweye resource for the future.

Yelloweye Rockfish Facts:

· Live to be 120 years old

· Range extends from Mexico to Alaska

· Found in deeper, rocky bottom areas

· Slow growing,low productive species

· Reddish-orange in color with bright yelloweye

· Commonly called "red snapper"

· Often spend their entire lifetime on one rockpile

How You Can Help

· If you are participating in the recreational halibut or bottomfish fishery, please avoid areas that are known to have yelloweye rockfish.

· If you do accidentally catch a yelloweye, please return to the water s soon as possible.

· Help spread the word to others about the severity of the yelloweye rockfish depleted population and the possible consequences of not avoiding yelloweye areas

· If you do not know what areas may have yelloweye rockfish, please consult a local resort, motel, or charter office or other expert before fishing

Great rockfish recompression video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiZFghwVOyI