****eness River

[indianfishery]

The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe is asking anglers to watch out for scour chains in the ****eness River. The tribe is very active in both restoring salmon habitat and researching the causes of the decline of salmon in the ****eness. Scour chain can be identified by the 4 to 6 inch, red or black, float connected to a thin wire. At the other end of the wire are 10 golf wiffle balls buried vertically in the bed. If the gravel moves during a flood, some of the wiffle balls will be released down the wire, allowing us to later determine the depth of scour. If too much gravel shifts, salmon nests will are disturbed and the salmon eggs incubating in the gravel can be killed.

It’s easy to understand how anglers might damage the chains; hooks can easily become tangled up in the rigging, which can be aggravating to anyone. Anglers can easily dislodge their rigging from the chains by wading in a short distance and unhooking themselves.

By improving habitat on the ****eness River, the Jamestown Tribe is working to improve salmon runs for everyone, sports and tribal fisherman alike. More fish in the ****eness River benefits everyone. If you have any questions about scour chains or habitat restoration on the ****eness River, feel free to give me a call at (360) 681-4615 or email me at brot@jamestowntribe.org.

Byron Rot,
Habitat Biologist
Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe

[MoJet Driver]

You gotta love how the automatic editing takes the **** out of ****eness.

[img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Let's see if "Fecaleness" works...

[Jennie@ifish]

HEY! Computers are only as smart as the people who run them!!!
Oops, that would be me.

Jen

[periwinkle]

Question, Byron ......why the heck are you posting this message on this Oregon website. Most of them don't know or care where the ----eness river is. Wouldn't P.P. out of Forks have been a better choice? [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[indianfishery]

I posted to piscatorial pursuits as well, but I thought some down here might be interested too.

the Dugneness River is near Sequim, WA, if anyone's wondering

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: indianfishery ]

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: indianfishery ]

[MoJet Driver]

Sorry Jen, but I had to take a stab. It's a target rich environment. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[MoJet Driver]

Actually I found the post very interesting despite the ****.

[Master Baiter]

That is rediculous, why is the auto editor editing out that series of letters anyway, **** is not an offensive term. [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img]

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: Master Baiter ]

[Jennie@ifish]

I used a suggested list off of infopop.
Expect errors as I weed out the ones that are not offensive.
It's kind of complicated. You have to put some in brackets and others not.
Like words that contain part of a bad word.
It's difficult, to say the least. If you would like the job, hey, take it!
[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
Jen

Welcome to the growing world of NW fishing websites Byron. I am so glad to see an Indian fisheries biologist join in this informative venue!

I am quite sure you are aware of the controversies of the Indian netting of fish runs, particularly in the Columbia River and the rivers of the Oly Pen. I am glad to see an upper management person involved in one of the better managed tribal fisheries up there willing to post on a site of sportfishers.

To that end, allow me first to quote you:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>the Jamestown Tribe is working to improve salmon runs for everyone, sports and tribal fisherman alike<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If that quoted plan is working appropriately, then it must be properly adhering to the Judge Boldt decision to split fish deemed harvestable evenly between Indian and non-Indian fishers. Can you tell the thousands of fishers that read here what is entailed in seeing that this Federal Court review mandate is adhered to?

Do you have or will you obtain information as to why is it so common to hear and read wittnessed reports of other Oly Pen tribal gillnet fisheries taking well over their mandated 50% share of the fish runs? How are these other tribal fisheries observed and supervised by tribal and non-tribal game enforcement agencies to ensure compliance with the 50/50 even split of fish mandated? Is it working? Or are the Indian fisheries taking more than their legally mandated share?

Can you also address the many eyewittness complaints of very wasteful Indian gillnet fisheries on many Hood's Canal rivers where eggs are taken out of the female fish and their carcasses and male carcasses are just piled up on the banks to rot (particularly the chum runs)?

Will you address the many credible complaints by Washington sportfishers that Indian gillnetters treat them abusively, including coming right into holes the sportsfishermen are already rightfully fishing in and spread their nets all the way across the river in that fishing hole. Then they tell the sporties to leave. I believe it's the law to not strech the nets all the way across the entire width of the river. I have taken picture's of Indian nets and netters doing this with Superfly's camera. For his safety I won't reveal what river this occured on late this summer/early fall. It is more evidense that has been complied via pictures and reports others have taken.

Thanks for your patience 'under fire', and your willingness to address these issues; that you may not have anything to do with directly. Your answers, and mentioning these things to other tribe's fishing managers, could go a long way toward healing a growing groundswell of sportfisher upheaval and rebellion concerning the illegal and unethical activites going on.

Steve Hanson

[indianfishery]

First off, I need to apologize, my name's Emmett O'Connell, I am the Hood Canal/SJD info officer with the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. I posted Byron's letter here because we wanted to get the word out before the Oct. 16 opening and I knew this would be a great place, since a lot of anglers surf here.

I can address the stripping issue right now, the other questions, can you give me a call? I can call your right back to save you on long distance, and we can go over all your quesitons. I'm at 360-297-6546. If anyone else has any questions on tribal fisheries, I can either answer them for you or find out for you.

On stripping: What must be kept in mind are the market forces that draw tribal fisherman to strip eggs from salmon carcasses. When fish buyers pay only a fraction for fish meat compared to what they pay for eggs it leaves little to wonder about why tribal fisherman would leave carcasses in exchange for their eggs. Currently, buyers are paying only up to 40 cents a pound for any type of salmon, but up to 5 dollars a pound for eggs. Salmon eggs are particularly desirable in the caviar market for their naturally occurring oils, large size and ability to retain their shape as an attractive market product.

Unfortunately, despite the tribes’ desire to donate excess salmon carcasses to food banks and other worthy causes, doing so is often beyond their resources. While they have donated carcasses to the public and to food banks and shelters locally, wider distribution is a much more difficult task. There is a high cost to process and keep fish fresh for human consumption.

If you have any suggestions for other sources we might tap to dispose of salmon, we would be more than happy to hear them. We always welcome suggestions that make tribal fisheries more effective.

Lastly, it is illegal under tribal regulations to dispose of a salmon carcass without recording that catch. Dumping in areas and in amounts that might cause pollution is also prohibited. This year, instead of being left on stream banks, many of the carcasses are being dumped out in the Hood Canal.

Tribes take their responsibility to regulate fisheries very seriously and fishing violations are not condoned. Tribal fisherman who violate regulations appear in tribal courts, where they face stiff fines, loss of fishing privileges and even jail time.

[smilesforu]

Great response indianfishery and thanks for the education on the stream bed gravel monitoring. My apologies for the confrontational attitude you ran into immediately. I for one appreciate the efforts put forth by the local tribes to increase the fish stocks and habitat. We couldn't make the tremendous strides without tribal support and many times leadership. I also appreciate youre willingness to help understand the tribal fishing practices and river monitoring of the habitat.
Tight lines

[ 10-04-2001: Message edited by: smilesforu ]

I posted this in a thread addressing Mr. O'Connell on Piscactorial's BB:

Good post Joe. I would love to join you in buying Mr. O'Connell lunch and discuss some of these issues in a civil and productive manner (hope you don't mind me inviting myself along too [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ). My questions here were hard questions, and contained accusations of wrong doing on the part of tribal fishers. It was criticized as being confrontational by Marty M. on the same thread on ifish. If it was taken that way accept my appology. Also know that we have on both fishing websites been addressing wrong doings by sportfishers too (snagging and litering), just as aggressively as wrong doings by some Indian fishers. My questions were posted because a representative of NW Washington Indian fisheries is here to communicate. I would still like to get the answers to how the gillnetting is monitored and harvest numbers recorded; and how those counts compare to sportfish harvest. That is the big question, and I do not see it as being confrontational. In fact, it is information that should be our right to know, given that we pay for most of the fish harvested and are 50% of the Treaty and Fed. Court equation. It needs and deserves answering for the future prospects of the two sides of that issue to get along better! Just as with the issue of unlawful sportfisher actions getting proper resolution suggestions here, so too would it be good for information and solution suggestions to come from all sides of the Treaty fishing matter; to come to a healthier fishing community of all factions involved.

Mr. O'Connell, I hope you will reconsider answering at least the main question above for us here. And also hope you will accept having lunch with Joe and I - or fishing with us and have a good healthy discussion and a fun time while we are at it [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img] . If felt appropriate by both parties, I will have the communication involved published in STS magazine (where I am a columnist), which reaches the region's sportfishing community. You can e-mail either of us via the icon at the top of the post boxes. BTW, my AOL addy there will soon be canceled and my current newer addy is reeltruth1@home.com

Thanks so much for your time and consideration. Take care. - Steve