TUNA! on the Wilson - No Kidding!

OceanBlue · 07-20-2007, 02:52 PM

7/26 Update! - today I received notification that someone had cleaned this mess up. WAY TO GO!!!!

(7/20) Today I received a disturbing email. Seems that some industrious and very successful fisher-person(s) saw fit to dump their TUNA! carcasses at the Sollie Smith boat ramp on the Wilson River. Not just a few. LOTS. They were discovered and documented on Tuesday. From the looks of it, it probably happened over the weekend.

I sure hope that was no one from this board. Isn't it illegal?

So sad...

I mean Geez, if you want to clean your fish someplace other than the port, take the carcasses back to the port, give them away for crab bait, or hire a dumpster for your home. Don't dump them at a boat ramp in inland waters for heaven's sake!

YUK

bobross · 07-20-2007, 03:21 PM

Normally I freeze fish waste and put it in the garbage frozen, so as not to offend the garbage collectors. Tuna is a different problem, as there is so much waste, and the freezer is plugged with tuna loins.

METRO will take them. Haul them to the waste transfer station, pay $17. Triple bagged.

Chrome Bumper · 07-20-2007, 03:41 PM

1 foot deep in the garden, recycle, that is ripping good plant food. Dumping them in the water is illegal without a permit(the freshwater regs says so).

iwanttofish · 07-20-2007, 05:03 PM

Very sad to see what a low life:shocked:

Moldy45 · 07-20-2007, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwanttofish

Very sad to see what a low life:shocked:

julezilla · 07-20-2007, 05:15 PM

That's just not right.

Bob5292 · 07-20-2007, 05:26 PM

Up here, I just post an add for free crab bait on any of the local fishing boards. I usually have two or three calls within an hour. Before that I would visit a buddy that lived at a near by apt complex and use their dumpster.

Bob

OceanBlue · 07-20-2007, 07:02 PM

Bigmaverick · 07-20-2007, 07:09 PM

That terrible!!!! I hope someone saw them and turns them in.

bait boy · 07-20-2007, 09:15 PM

Granted these are Tuna and far from where they were caught but dont they all serve the same purpose? Have you ever gutted and gilled your salmon or steelhead and left them in the river? Filetted? Its fish guts in a river who cares? Thats where this whole perception thing comes from and the stupid oregon law regarding returning fish carcasses to the water.. its nutrients back in the water but its ugly and it stinks.. just think of the crawdads and salmon and steelhead smolt that are going to enjoy the nutrients...

Yeah lets just arrest that guy...stick his butt in jail so a meth head can come to your house to steal your kicker motor....

Medics-R-US · 07-20-2007, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bait boy

Granted these are Tuna and far from where they were caught but dont they all serve the same purpose? Have you ever gutted and gilled your salmon or steelhead and left them in the river? Filetted? Its fish guts in a river who cares? Thats where this whole perception thing comes from and the stupid oregon law regarding returning fish carcasses to the water.. its nutrients back in the water but its ugly and it stinks.. just think of the crawdads and salmon and steelhead smolt that are going to enjoy the nutrients...

Yeah lets just arrest that guy...stick his butt in jail so a meth head can come to your house to steal your kicker motor....

I apologize Bait Boy but I feel that your missing the point of the law. The law was put into place to help prevent unwanted parasites from being introduce into other water systems. I agree that the law is stupid in some respects but in other respects it does make sense.

Please don't take this wrong or out of context as I am not trying to offend you (Bait Boy) or anyone else.

foxer · 07-20-2007, 09:59 PM

How many carks were there?

bait dunker · 07-20-2007, 10:12 PM

it is illegal. that said, i see it doing more good than harm to return the carcases of fish and game back to the waters or land they came from. insects and algae prosper from the protien of the carcases. smolts eat the insects and algae, its part of the natural life cycle. as long as its not done in such volume it causes a biological overload. unsightly, yes. illegal, yes. good for the environment and the fish we all love, yes...... i think its a silly law, and i think the people who threw the carcases on the boat ramp should have done it differently. my .02

OceanBlue · 07-20-2007, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bait dunker

it is illegal. that said, i see it doing more good than harm to return the carcases of fish and game back to the waters or land they came from. insects and algae prosper from the protien of the carcases. smolts eat the insects and algae, its part of the natural life cycle. as long as its not done in such volume it causes a biological overload. unsightly, yes. illegal, yes. good for the environment and the fish we all love, yes...... i think its a silly law, and i think the people who threw the carcases on the boat ramp should have done it differently. my .02

I don't think that breaking the law is good in any sense. The law was put into effect for a reason. And this is a GREAT example. returning fish to the water to feed the system... fine, but it's a balance. 20+ carcasses of non-native (to that environment) fish in one location (and a public one at that) can't do any good that I can see. It's just dumping. Plain and simple. All due respect, but there's nothing "natural" about it. that many fish don't just naturally up and die on a boat ramp. TUNA! certainly don't "naturally" die in fresh water rivers unless they're "planted" there un-naturally

'nuff said.

Smoked Salmon · 07-20-2007, 11:29 PM

When planting salmon carcasses in a stream, the ODFW must first get a permit from DEQ to ensure that water quality won't be degraded. All that intense biologic action in one place can have unintended side effects. The DEQ permit will stipulate that the carcasses not be bunched up, but instead spread out evenly over the entire course of the stream. So, 1 tote of carcasses over a mile of stream. Never 1 tote of carcasses in one place.

Actions like that make the non-fishing public think that some (read "all") fishermen can't be trusted with the privilege.

-Bill

jimsbuddy · 07-21-2007, 02:07 AM

If the law is bad or wrong, than we should work to change it... but as Bill said, if too many carcasses are being dumped in a single spot that is bad... even distribution is the best. If we remove the law and more people just dumped there carcasses back in the river or lake, then all the lazy and undeucated would just clean and dump the bucket where ever... personally cleaned and gutted fish carcasses in a big pile next to camping stream, boat dock, launch or other is unsightly. Id say it would be better to dump in middle of a lake or columbia than on the bank.

Shameless · 07-21-2007, 06:48 AM

It's possible that the person doing this thought it a good idea and maybe even helpful but I doubt it. Most likely it was someone too lazy to do the right thing. This kind of thing does give fishers a bad reputation and empowers those who would stop us from enjoying our sport. The sad part is that not 1 in 100 of us would ever do something like this but it will be assumed that we would all do it by those who oppose us.

Grady252 · 07-21-2007, 07:07 AM

There are certainly worse crimes.... but if we all decided to violate the law and dump our carcasses at the local boat ramps it would be pretty nasty around our parks and ramps.... They should be placed at cleaning stations, in your garden or even better take them out and dump thm in the ocean and feed the crabs and bottom fish..... A lot more work to take them out, but great to give back to the ocean......

Sled Dog · 07-21-2007, 05:20 PM

Was walking the dog the other night down the bay road along netarts bay, about a 1/4 mile up from the ramp someone had tossed about 15 tuna carks toward the bay but only managed to make it about 3 feet from the road. Looks like they stopped and just tipped their cooler over the guard rail. I don't see to much harm in tossing the carks into a saltwater bay (as long as its not a big pile at the ramp etc.) but only getting them a couple feet from the road is just lazy

. However the seagulls didn't seem to mind. Much to my wifes disgust I helped the carks the rest of the way to the water but I wasn't allowed into the house until I got "that smell" off my hands.

OceanBlue · 07-22-2007, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sled Dog

Much to my wifes disgust I helped the carks the rest of the way to the water but I wasn't allowed into the house until I got "that smell" off my hands.

Sorry about being locked out of the house, though!

Mypursuit · 07-22-2007, 01:30 PM

Sled dog's right. You want to dump them back in the salt, the crabs and gulls will love them...hell, I've got some freezer space for some carks. They can be almost as good as shad for crab bait if you freeze them fresh, then chop them into chunks for the traps...oily decomposing tuna in fresh water is the same as household garbage:frown:; it will eventually decompose, but so does raw sewage and that's why the Willamette isn't fun to fish in the rain!

Sturgeon Tom · 07-22-2007, 10:20 PM

Sad, Sad, sad that is all I can say.:frown:

CrazyFish · 07-22-2007, 10:35 PM

That was the weekend that the Garibaldi cleaning station was closed due to repairs needed, but we had other options open to us. We had dock stations, state park stations, back of your boat with carkases in the bay. There is no sense in what was done, there are other options.

Threemuch · 07-23-2007, 06:33 AM

If they let us cark at sea, I bet nothing like this would ever happen. Still no excuse.

David Johnson · 07-23-2007, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Granted these are Tuna and far from where they were caught but dont they all serve the same purpose? Have you ever gutted and gilled your salmon or steelhead and left them in the river? Filetted? Its fish guts in a river who cares?

Yes, I do clean salmon and steelhead in the stream but when there is a good stream flow.

With the high water temp and low oxygen of this time of year in the Wilson it can't be good for all that to to be decomposing there.

BentMetal · 07-23-2007, 12:03 PM

I was going to play devil's advocate and mention on my one fishing trip to Alaska, fishing the Kenai for Red's and you would see thousands . . . thousands. . . of filleted out fish carcasses along the river banks. Every fish cleaned the carcass would go right back into the water.

But of course, an ocean dwelling fish being dumped in a warm, low flow stream . . . probably not the best idea.

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Johnson

Yes, I do clean salmon and steelhead in the stream but when there is a good stream flow.

With the high water temp and low oxygen of this time of year in the Wilson it can't be good for all that to to be decomposing there.

CATCH AND EAT · 07-23-2007, 12:08 PM

This time of year I would think to much nitrogen would be generated in that area and may actually kill fish off. Use a little restraint folks. That is plain ugly to look at.

The Stallion · 07-23-2007, 06:12 PM

Every year.
Whenever I see someone rinsing their motor there I check it out.
Soon we will have more suckers eatin' my eggs.
There's a reason fish decomposition in nature is not year round.

5 Salt · 07-23-2007, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrome Bumper

1 foot deep in the garden, recycle, that is ripping good plant food. Dumping them in the water is illegal without a permit(the freshwater regs says so).

So do you chop them up before you deep compost them?

OceanBlue · 07-26-2007, 05:09 AM

Bumpin' it up with an update.

I received word today that some good soul went and cleaned up this mess.