Perplexing Question - Wild Steelhead

[blackdog]

To answer your question, see another current thread on seals and sea lions. Nothing like creating an artificial buffet table (dams) for them to feast at, then we add to their feast by making the fish even easier to catch. Heck, I bet I could catch a steelhead with my hands after it thrashed about in a net for 45 minutes then was just flopped back in the water. Beatin' a dead horse, but the freakin' nets gotta go! Let the Native American dip net fish out of the fish ladders in the dams just like the old days and get them out of the netting business as well. I don't recall seeing any historical photos of them ever having gillnets before, so they should have no claim now.

[Artwo]

Recently I read an article that someone posted on here about the amount of wild steelhead that had been caught in the tooth tangle nets this season. Also part of this article stated that not all the commercials were using the "Jesus Boxes" as well as the discussions we've had about survival rates. If I recall correctly, this article stated that there were a significant amount of wild steelhead caught in these nets and released back to the river compared to the amount of salmon caught in the nets. Here's my quandry, if you look at the amounts of wild steelhead that have passed over Bonneville and/or the falls at OC I think those numbers are very low. So if the catch of wild steelhead in the nets was so high, where have all these wild fish gone that were caught in the nets?.

I have my own opinions on this but would like to here yours.

JK

[Lured In]

Artwo my 2 cents...

Estimated total steelhead handled was around 19000 throught March 25th.

Approximately 14000 steelhead have gone over the falls since the beginning of Feb. (both summers and winters) And who knows how many went up the clack, sandy, cowlitz, lewis etc.

Approximately 4000 have gone over Bonnie which is roughly on track with last year.

Its hard for me to say exactly what that means, except that the numbers look better than I would have anticipated. :rolleyes:

Also, none of the dam/falls count reflect hatchery vs. wild steelhead, only winter vs summer. In the last Columbia River compact statement, approximately 7500 of the 19000 were hatchery fish.

[ 04-23-2002, 12:40 PM: Message edited by: Lured In ]

[Artwo]

Lured In,
I agree with you for the fish over the OC falls, but the number that alarms me is that only 969 wild steelhead have passed over Bonneville to date per the link on the ifish main page. I got the impression from this article that the catch of wild steelhead in the nets was significant. If so, this would support the lack of survival rate everyone is discussing.

JK

[ 04-23-2002, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: Artwo ]