PS Chinook fishery in-season management grade

[Smalma]

As we slide into the fall it is time to look at Puget Sound Chinook fisheries and how the in-season management performance went. Coming out of NOF the main limiting stock was the Snohomish wild Chinook where to meet the harvest guidelines/quotas for the MAs with the largest impacts seeing substantial reductions in those fisheries (MA 5, MA 7, MA 9 and MA 10). As a measure of the in-season management of the various intensively the common parameter is the estimated catch/expected catch percentage. Below are the various MAs and their associated percentage-

MA 5 at 139%
MA 6 at 102%
MA 7 at 99%
Tulalip Bubble at 99%
MA 9 at 131%
MA10 at 121%
MA 11 (June) at 86%
MA 11 (July/Aug) at 128%

For those MAs that were reduced to protect those Snohomish Chinook the average estimated catch/expected catch percentage was 122.5%. For this large of a "miss" is unacceptable and a clear in-season management failure. With 4 of the 8 monitored fisheries going over the 120% not only was the excessive harvest impacts for the Snohomish Chinook placed on the resource it also raises the potential of the fisheries exceeding the planned impacts for Stillaguamish Chinook and triggering a conversation payback in 2027.

Unfortunately, I have to give WDFW's in-season management for the above Chinook fishery an "F"!

It also raises the question of whether the current management paradigm is adequate, and does it need to change?

It appears to me that the failure of PS Chinook recovery efforts, increasing recreational fleet efficiency, and WDFW in-season management failure have undermined the current management paradigm.

My question is that if there were to be a change in that paradigm what changes would folks like to see?

Curt

 

[DimeBrite]

As we slide into the fall it is time to look at Puget Sound Chinook fisheries and how the in-season management performance went. Coming out of NOF the main limiting stock was the Snohomish wild Chinook where to meet the harvest guidelines/quotas for the MAs with the largest impacts seeing substantial reductions in those fisheries (MA 5, MA 7, MA 9 and MA 10). As a measure of the in-season management of the various intensively the common parameter is the estimated catch/expected catch percentage. Below are the various MAs and their associated percentage-

MA 5 at 139%
MA 6 at 102%
MA 7 at 99%
Tulalip Bubble at 99%
MA 9 at 131%
MA10 at 121%
MA 11 (June) at 86%
MA 11 (July/Aug) at 128%

For those MAs that were reduced to protect those Snohomish Chinook the average estimated catch/expected catch percentage was 122.5%. For this large of a "miss" is unacceptable and a clear in-season management failure. With 4 of the 8 monitored fisheries going over the 120% not only was the excessive harvest impacts for the Snohomish Chinook placed on the resource it also raises the potential of the fisheries exceeding the planned impacts for Stillaguamish Chinook and triggering a conversation payback in 2027.

Unfortunately, I have to give WDFW's in-season management for the above Chinook fishery an "F"!

It also raises the question of whether the current management paradigm is adequate, and does it need to change?

It appears to me that the failure of PS Chinook recovery efforts, increasing recreational fleet efficiency, and WDFW in-season management failure have undermined the current management paradigm.

My question is that if there were to be a change in that paradigm what changes would folks like to see?

Curt

To start with, I'd recommend WDFW stop the process of reaching net zero chinook fishing. Reset the equations as currently devised. Reevaluate the methodologies of the "test fishery". Adjust legal sport fishing gear to limit juvenile chinook "encounters". Adjust the sport fleet size down by posting WILD ID # or boat registration # based dates eligible to fish. Negotiate with tribal partners as equal parties not as subordinates. Stop leaving 10s of thousands of hatchery origin chinook unharvested.

 

[Pink Nighty]

End mark selective sport fishing and mandate retention of the first legal Chinook encountered.

 

[johnnyboy]

If it could ever happen again, I’d want the first or second weekend of August to be prioritized for MA9/MA10 chinook rather than the third/fourth weekend of July. And then protect all of July for coho/pinks only. Probably wont ever happen though due to the dire situation in which we are in.

From my observation mid-August is when the run historically peaks for the mature, migratory hatchery fish and the quality of the fish is higher. The chinook in which we are given the opportunity to fish for only represent the very front end of the run. I’d also like to know what % of fish caught & retained in the July weekend openers are blackmouth. I’d bet it’s a pretty high percentage based on what I see other people harvest online.

Other ideas I have include an annual limit (like how halibut is), having a boat limit (I.e. if X amount of fish is caught on your vessel on X day you are done, regardless of how many people are on it), mandatory retention of first legal fish caught, list goes on…