Another good idea to explore for saving salmon. Could be used in some trial scenarios. From many non-native fishermen I’ve talked to, the issue for them will likely be management of the native part of the take. There is a wide spread perception that the tribal take is not well managed and that they get to take more with less oversight, while the non-native fisherman is overburdened with regulations and enforcement. It’s been expressed to me that all many fishermen want is equal balance to the catch. While I’ve done a lot of looking into this issue and do not feel that the non-native perspective is accurate, the state and tribes might want to do a better job of PR to the non native community to help explain how it’s done.
Higher standards of “sustainability” for salmon — recently developed by the Wild Fish Conservancy — are designed to put salmon on people’s tables with virtually no impact on depleted salmon runs. The new standards, which could become part of a certification program, are built upon the concept that fishing should take place closer to streams with abundant runs of salmon. The standards call for fishing methods that can take a portion of the fish from the abundant runs while allowing fish from depleted runs to pass on by and spawn naturally. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways
Filed under: Puget Sound, Salmon | Tagged: Puget Sound, Salmon Recovery |
Interesting that one of the major ways to keep salmon on peoples plates while reducing pressure on native salmon runs was banned by WA state politicians – fish farming. Perhaps IF the state politicians, Fish and Game and fish farmers would all get together and get the fish hatcheries to provide ” native” fingerlings, preferably Chinook to the fish farms, but then what do I know. (Maybe work on training the Orcas to eat otters and seals?)