Resi-Salmon Program

[Wetswinger]

After being skunked yesterday I stopped at the Boston Harbor boat ramp to check out the action. Survey checker said they had about one fish per person, mainly Chinook. I talked to a man securing his boat in the lot. He claimed to be a retired fisheries worker and claims that the state has quietly closed the resi-salmon program. I told him how a tribal Squaxin fisherman told me they got a grant to enlarge their net pen program. He said the Squaxin net pens have nothing to do with the resi- salmon program but is only intended for the tribal beach siene fishery.

Can anybody clarify what might be the true situation?..With this conversation and the closing of area #13 salmon fishing, I'm a basket case....

 

[Phil K]

Interesting, and disappointing if true. That might explain why I've caught, let's see........ Zero Rezzies this year.

That was such a fun fishery, and they are so tasty!

 

[Wetswinger]

Interesting, and disappointing if true. That might explain why I've caught, let's see........ Zero Rezzies this year.

That was such a fun fishery, and they are so tasty!

It's all hearsay. I'm hoping someone with more knowledge on this subject can chime in..

 

[Smalma]

There are a couple issues here.

The contact's reference to "resi-salmon may have included the resident blackmouth. 20 or so years ago there were a lot of net pens scattered throughout Puget Sound which were thought to contribute significantly to the blackmouth fishery. A couple years after the ESA listing of the PS Chinook Code Wire Tag (CWTs) showed that those fish that were not caught strayed through PS tributaries often interacting with the natural spawning populations. Those concerns were significant enough that the Chinook net program was ended.

As most know some of the coho net pens continue which are popularly thought to contribute significantly to the number of resident coho in Puget Sound. By far the best catch information available on the relative abundance of resident coho is that early summer (June and July) coho catch in MA 10. Those numbers are consistently significantly higher than other MAs December to July coho catches. I took a quick look at the June and July MA 10 coho (residents?) catches over the last twenty years (2001 to 2020). Over that period the annual early summer catch (harvest) was 2,289 fish. From 2001 through 2017 the high year had a catch of 2,496 (2006) and a lowest of 21 in 2016. In 2018 the early summer catch was 7,672, in 2019 it was 13,239 and in 2020 it was 10,374.

Clearly in recent years (last 5) there has been lots of resident coho. The portion of the smotlts entering PS that remain to become those "resident " fish seems to be highly dependent on PS conditions and in some years there are significant contributions from a wide variety of sources. I believe it was 2017 that from CWT information from Sound wide hatchery programs showed only 17% of the MA 10 early summer catch were from Deep south Sound and 17% were from North Sound with most of the remainder coming from central sound sources.

Make what you will with the above.

Curt

 

[Wetswinger]

Great information Smalma, thank you..

 

[skyrise]

I have noticed what appears to be resident coho on one NS area 9 beach but only a couple of times. The fish are mostly small average from say 6-12” and they appear to be feeding on something small. I caught a couple last year on small orange/pinkish shrimp flies. They do look like small salmon. Have seen them again a few weeks ago but they wanted nothing to do with my fly. Wonder if maybe these are from hatchery stockings like ones on the stilly or the club hatchery stuff on the Snohomish ?

 

[johnnyboy]

I have noticed what appears to be resident coho on one NS area 9 beach but only a couple of times. The fish are mostly small average from say 6-12” and they appear to be feeding on something small. I caught a couple last year on small orange/pinkish shrimp flies. They do look like small salmon. Have seen them again a few weeks ago but they wanted nothing to do with my fly. Wonder if maybe these are from hatchery stockings like ones on the stilly or the club hatchery stuff on the Snohomish ?

I notice the same thing on the beaches I fish in Admiralty Inlet. There seems to be a ton of those around, all 6-12 inch little coho. A lot are still at the size where they could still migrate out, while others are big enough to pass as jacks. Perhaps it is a huge crop of residents?

Never seen so many of those before though. I've seen them school around since the season opened all at the same places. Perhaps it has something to due with the conditions within Puget Sound.

 

[Jisabi]

To my understanding all of the Squaxin net pens were released early last year with the intent to become migratory food fish, which accounts for the complete absence of resident coho in the Olympia area this winter/spring 2022. In 2020 and years past some were intentionally held later to naturalize and hang around Jan-March. Such a great fishery that is truly missed.

 

[Stonedfish]

Are the north sound small coho you are seeing clipped or unclipped?
They could be coming from north sound net pen projects like Edmonds or Port Gamble.
If memory serves me correctly, those fish are released in late May or early June after they’ve imprinted to the sound. The same was true in past releases from the south sound pens.
Minter creek was also involved with some resident coho production as in the past there were discussions about how to identify where the fish came from based on which fins were clipped.
I agree with everyone in that there have definitely have been a lot of shakers this year.
For those that didn’t get to enjoy the fishing when the resident blackmouth program was at full speed, you missed out on some great fishing.
SF

 

[johnnyboy]

They are all clipped.

I do know that there are a decent amount of residents released at Edmonds that wander up here. I figure the same with Port Gamble, since it only a few miles away from where I'm seeing them.

 

[Smalma]

Let's try to clean up a couple of the terms we throw about.

Those 6 to 12 inch coho we see during the summer are fish from released as smolts that spring. It is this tendency to remain in the sound for a period as they adjust to the marine environment and take advantage of the unique feeding opportunities found there contribute to their overall survival. Historically those Puget Sound coho survived at 3 to 5 times of those on the coast that enter directly into the marine water. For sure some of those smaller coho (shakers?) we see will remain in the sound into the next growing season. It is at this point as the coho enter their final year before maturing and if uncaught spawn. A big factor that seems to play into how long those young stay in the sound and where in the sound they are found seems to be driven in large part by food availability, especially euphausiids. In central sound those euphausiids are a major food item until they reach about 19 inches when make the switch to a mostly fish diet.

We should also be equally clear that both net pens, hatcheries and naturally produced smolts contribute to PS resident coho and blackmouth populations. Those fish that are delayed released (whether in net pens or other rearing strategy) have a higher tendency to stay in the sound though it would be rare that the majority of the release would do so.

As I stated in an early post in this thread, we see significant variability in the portion of the smolts entering the sound that residualize. It would be reasonable to assume those fish are reacting to the availability of preferred food items.

Some of the historical available information (pre 1940) show that those resident populations were important to PS fisheries, often dominating the overall sport catch. Remember this was long before net pens. While those resident populations contribute at lower rates to the overall sport catch they can provide significant catches, for example in 2019 20% of all the recreationally caught PS coho were caught in MA 10 during June and July.

Curt

 

[Steve_S]

Guessing some in 9 from this project.
www.oakharbor.org/community/page/marina-salmon-rearing-project

 

[skyrise]

Curt thanks for the information. In the beaches I tromp around at these fish are seen one day and gone the next. Chasing the food I assume. Eagle creek is one program I know is still going and the guys from the Snohomish sportsman club say they are still running a program on one of the creeks draining into the Snohomish river.

 

[Jisabi]

Thank you as well for the well-informed clarification. The complexity of this fishery is fascinating.

 

[Dustin Chromers]

After being skunked yesterday I stopped at the Boston Harbor boat ramp to check out the action. Survey checker said they had about one fish per person, mainly Chinook. I talked to a man securing his boat in the lot. He claimed to be a retired fisheries worker and claims that the state has quietly closed the resi-salmon program. I told him how a tribal Squaxin fisherman told me they got a grant to enlarge their net pen program. He said the Squaxin net pens have nothing to do with the resi- salmon program but is only intended for the tribal beach siene fishery.

Can anybody clarify what might be the true situation?..With this conversation and the closing of area #13 salmon fishing, I'm a basket case....

There was an outbreak of a pathogen in the pens last year. They were raising more fish in the same area as I understand and a pathogen forced the release of their stock premature to grow natural. The grant is likely to increase this pen size to avoid what happened.