hmmmm

[rob allen]

It seems to me that if this test fishery is successful and continued in future years the state agencies could find grounds to eliminate the gill net fishery and have the tooth tangle nets take their place. This would be an excellent thing! Wild fish are more importnat that and sport, commercial or tribal fishery. IF a way was found to have good harvest of hatchery fish by all 3 with aextremely small impact on wild fish maybe all the fisheries could remain open. Or should we wait another 30 years to fish for springers in the Columbia again?

Anyone who kills a wild fish is by definition not a sportsman!
Rob

[Pilar]

Rob Allen, do we know for sure what the mortality rate is on the released fish from this type of net? As far as I know any net is going to abrade the skin on the fish and remove the protective slime.

If you've ever seen spawning salmon covered with white fungus this is the result of slime coating damage.

I guess it puzzles me that keeping nets is so important to the authorities. So important that we waste time and resources looking for relatively less damaging nets.

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I remember someone posting on this forum an idea I'd like to echo. Net the fish, but do it at the fish ladder where you can avoid scooping wild fish.
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Curtains of death draped across my river are indiscriminate killers and offend me. Resource destruction belongs in the 19th century not the 21st.

Ban all nets and do it now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ 04-16-2001: Message edited by: Pilar ]

[WheresMyBobber]

I don't agree with netting fish and the indiscriminate killing that goes with it.

With that said....

My understanding is that tangle nets WILL be a reality on the Columbia starting next year. The reason the netters don't like them is because they are more work. The drift times will be very short and require that they be pulled in more often than conventional gillnets.

I don't know what the mortality rate is when using them, but I believe there have been tests done in Washington and/or BC that show they work well for safely releasing wild fish when drift times are short and closely monitored.

The ODFW is aware of the tests done in other places, so I don't believe more testing is really needed. My hunch is that the "test period" on the Columbia is more for the benefit of the netters so they can get in some practice time before they become required next year.

I could be wrong.

[Pilar]

Key words

"Closely monitored and short deployment times"

I doubt that after the honeymoon is over much effort will be devoted to enforcing those conditions. Any fish trapped in a net overnight or for any but the shortest period of time will thrash around until dead.

Just my .02, can you feel the love for nets here??

[dawhunt]

There should be NO GILLNETTING allowed in the columbia river indians or not PERIOD.
Just lppk at what has happened in Flordia and Texas and California when the gillnetting was banned.The sport fishing has gone skyhigh,there makeing millions of dollars if the the sport fishing.Now look what has up back up around new england and maine,there are no fish the netters are loseing there boats and there homes and there A---s up there.Its time they were takeing out of the columbia river for ever !!! images/icons/mad.gif

[Hoosier Daddy]

I'm not a huge fan of nets either, but if given a choice between fish with some slime knocked off and fish dead, I know which I choose. Also, keep in mind that gillnets do just as much or more damage to the fishes slime than these nets probably do. Gill netted fish end up just as wrapped up, and have a much lower chance of survival (assuming the tooth nets work right) than the new nets, so you are adding the potential gill net damage to the slime damage. With the new ones, potentially you would eliminate the first source of mortality, with equal, or possibly less mortality from the second source.