Tooth nets

[FishinBob]

I got a reply about the tooth nets on the columbia. Even though the email doesn't have much information it does show that if the sports fishermen will keep speaking out we can make the people in the decision making positions know that we do care and have a say in the future of our fish. Here is the email reply:

April 30, 2001

Dear Mr. xxxxxxx:

Thank you for your e-mail correspondence to the Fish and Wildlife Commission inquiry about the tests of the
tooth net as a selective fishing gear. The Commission has forwarded your e-mail to the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Fish Program for direct response.

Since selective commercial fisheries are a relatively recent development, little information shows whether or not
salmon can be successfully captured and released from tooth nets. Initial studies done by the WDFW in 1999,
and by some Canadian fishers since 1977, showed that coho and chinook can be captured in the gear with a
high percentage released live. We have developed a web site about commercial selective fishing (), which
describes some of this work.

We do not have all the information we need to fully understand the effects of selective fishing on the weak stocks
that we would like to protect. This year, several more experiments will continue to evaluate tooth nets. First,
the tests on the Columbia River will evaluate how well spring chinook can be caught with the tooth nets, and how
well they survive after release. In addition, we have 20 fishers participating in a fishery in which they can keep
marked fish and must release unmarked fish. This part of the project will help us understand the problems that
would be encountered in an actual fishery. In the late summer and fall, we will also evaluate the tooth net for
selective harvest of fall chinook and coho in Puget Sound and Willapa Bay. As the results become available, we
will post them on our agency web page.

Where we have healthy populations, the WDFW is committed to developing fishing opportunities for commercial
and recreational fishers. Because we are also committed to recovering and protecting weak salmon
populations, we see responsible selective fisheries as a possible method to achieve both goals.

Thank you for your interest in tooth netting in the Columbia River.

Sincerely,

Lew Atkins
Assistant Director
Fish Program

cc: Fish and Wildlife Commission

[boater]

how will these tangle nets benifit sportsman ??

[Pete]

The results of the tests of tangle nets are not conclusive. The numbers of fish caught and the analysis of the results are insufficient to draw any conclusions about the effectiveness of these nets in helping to preserve weak stocks. Read more at: http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/fish/commerci...eprogress1.htm

[Killertraylor]

Boater - assuming the initial tests prove to be accurate, the tangle nets will be of great benefit to sportsmen. If native fish can be released unharmed (you'll recall that Bill Monroe's article in the Oregonian last week reported that all wild fish cought that day were released unharmed) then the quotas will be higher and the seasons will stay open longer for sportsfishermen. This assumes that the ODFW and WDFW don't go crazy with the # of fish commercial gillnetters are allowed to harvest.

[boater]

killertraylor, you just wrote "all fish released unharmed" think about that, if they make no impact on endangered fish who knows how many fish they will get. look at the first opener on the columbia, i think it was 8000 for nets and 25000 or so for sports and the only reason they stoped was because of the esa impact, with zero impact or close zero, how many would the state have let them catch, another example is hoods canal this year, the state set a 400 chinook bycatch while fishing for chum and if these nets work and have zero impact how many more chum can they take. maybe i`m looking at this the wrong way but i realy think these nets are bad news, but i just see them getting more fish because that is the main goal of these nets. i want to see the native fish saved but with a close to zero impact on wild fish and reading the psga homepage and seeing no negative talk of them and reading this http://www.bcafc.org/docs/selective/caught.html i just dont like it. atleast with a standard gillnet they are held to a certain impact on wild fish (ya that was hard to type) with these new nets the only limit is the amount of fish the state gives them. i can just see all the rivers with excess hatchery fish being netted to death at there mouths.

[FishinBob]

There is no data that show that the tooth nets are safe for catch and release. Taking a fish from a tooth net and seeing if it lives for 10 minutes it not a test at all. There needs to be more testing on how long the fish can be in the net ect.. So since you can catch a springer, net it after several tries, drop it on the floor of the boat, let it flop around while getting the hooks out, put it in the ice chest, take it out and look at it, decide to weigh it so drag it out of the ice chest again hook it on the scale and have it fall off put it back on the scale only to have it fall off again and flop in the water and swim away. Saw this on Thursday almost died from trying not to laugh at the boat right next to me. So since this fish swam away it must be ok

[finclipped]

Thanks for that link boater. I found it interesting how the Canadian Aboriginal ( I assume this means tribes) were embracing the idea of selective fishing, were as local area tribes feel it is an infringment on their "essence of being" to release endangered fish.

A couple comments on the nets. One is that mortality will continue if for no other reason than Seals will have a smorgasbord of fresh salmon to feed on. I also feel that these fish being entangled for hours in a net, strugling to get free, is going to have a detrimental effect on the fish.

As far as I understand it, they are marking some released fish and studying what effects the nets catch and release is having on there migration. Tooth nets are a start, but I think there are even better methods for reducing commercial fishing mortality.

[BellBuoy]

Boater
I agree with you. If the netters are allowed to use tangle nets they will get more time on the water. What we as sportfishers must do is impress upon fisheries managers that such netting should take place upriver from sportfishers as much as possible to give them more opportunity.
Better yet we not only as fishers but concerned citizens should go a step further to protect ESA fish by advocating live trapping for commercial harvest. The use of weirs by the Canadian tribes looks like the best idea to me as long as it is upstream of sport fishing.