Skagit Wild Steelhead Fishery Monitoring - Under Threat of Budget Cuts

[Stonedfish]

The Skagit Steelhead are ESA listed fish. The management plan that allows fishing also requires monitoring of the fishing. Volunteers for this kind of activity are unreliable and will not meet the requirements. Or so I have been told.

Wayne or anyone else who wants to reply.
I haven’t fished the Skagit in years so I have some questions about the monitoring.
1. When monitoring staff interacts with anglers, what specifically are they asking?
2. Are they taking scale samples and fin clips if they happen to be present when a fish is caught?
3. How many staff members are monitoring the river daily when it is open?
4. Are all anglers encountering monitors on a daily basis while fishing?
SF

 

[offensivename]

Wayne or anyone else who wants to reply.
I haven’t fished the Skagit in years so I have some questions about the monitoring.
1. When monitoring staff interacts with anglers, what specifically are they asking?
2. Are they taking scale samples and fin clips if they happen to be present when a fish is caught?
3. How many staff members are monitoring the river daily when it is open?
4. Are all anglers encountering monitors on a daily basis while fishing?
SF

I had a WDFW employee hit me up on the Sauk on Saturday.

I can answer 1 and 4 (anecdotally anyway)

The WDFW employee asked:
What time did I start fishing,
How was I fishing (bank, boat) I was only bank fishing that day.
Did I have a guide,
What was my target species,
Had I retained any fish or released any fish (no sadly, still skunked for the year)
Was that my truck on the side of the road,
How many anglers were there.
Did I have a description of the jet sled that had just driven up the river a few minutes before (pretty sure this one isn't standard since there aren't supposed to be jet sleds on the Sauk).

For 4, this is the first time I'd ran into someone from WDFW on the Skagit system this year.

 

[_WW_]

Monitoring consists of angler "creel" counts. As I recall in conversations with them there are 3-4 working different sections of the river. Information gathered consists of number of hours fished, number and species of fish encounters, type of gear used, number in your party, and your zip code. When they ask about parked cars I think they are trying to figure out if there is another angler to talk to. There are also aerial surveys done by helicopter to count anglers, but I am not sure of the frequency of these flights. (Talk about spotting fish!)

All this information is extrapolated to number of angler hours per encounter and totals for those two things. Other information such as non-residents participating is also teased out from the surveys.

Do they talk to every single angler? Of course not. Are they able to count every single angler? Of course not. But I think they get a pretty good idea of what is going on in spite of some people, and you know who you are, not being truthful.

As for scale samples and such I think these are gathered by the Upper Skagit Tribe in a few tangle net C&R test fisheries in the river below where we are fishing.

These are the basics but I'm sure it's not all of the nuts and bolts of the operation.

 

[Tallguy]

Monitoring consists of angler "creel" counts. As I recall in conversations with them there are 3-4 working different sections of the river. Information gathered consists of number of hours fished, number and species of fish encounters, type of gear used, number in your party, and your zip code. When they ask about parked cars I think they are trying to figure out if there is another angler to talk to. There are also aerial surveys done by helicopter to count anglers, but I am not sure of the frequency of these flights. (Talk about spotting fish!)

All this information is extrapolated to number of angler hours per encounter and totals for those two things. Other information such as non-residents participating is also teased out from the surveys.

Do they talk to every single angler? Of course not. Are they able to count every single angler? Of course not. But I think they get a pretty good idea of what is going on in spite of some people, and you know who you are, not being truthful.

As for scale samples and such I think these are gathered by the Upper Skagit Tribe in a few tangle net C&R test fisheries in the river below where we are fishing.

These are the basics but I'm sure it's not all of the nuts and bolts of the operation.

As I have said elsewhere recently, the above is all information that could be more effectively and more broadly captured by the device 90+% of anglers have in their pocket all day. Most especially, the fish Washington app. can easily have this functionality (I 100% know a little team of computer science students could write such an app piece in a month), and it easily could be added as part of an electronic catch reporting card.

If given the option of "no fishing at all" versus "90% of you NEED to fill out this information every time you go fishing here or else it closes", what do you think the fishing community will choose to do??

It's so simple, right?

 

[_WW_]

If given the option of "no fishing at all" versus "90% of you NEED to fill out this information every time you go fishing here or else it closes", what do you think the fishing community will choose to do??

It's so simple, right?

And how would you enforce compliance?

 

[Joey C]

Emails sent to State District 40 Legislators and Congressional District 2 Legislators.

The Northwest Sportsman article has a helpful link to find local lawmakers and reach out.

Thanks Chris and others for bringing this issue to light.

Joey

 

[Tallguy]

And how would you enforce compliance?

Not a barrier, although it likely involves doing something different than is currently done. We get checked for fishing licenses and gear, multiple approaches could be used that are similar in the reporting space. Daily log in before you fish, a tag system, etc. Used on BC Rivers all the time. They could also easily run angler counts along the river and make sure 0.9 * angler count number of reports show up ASAP (though in reality, you don't need even 50% of anglers responses to have good data). Spend a few monitoring dollars to drop a QR code sticker at every boat launch you need to scan and enter data. Any of these strategies stretch the limited monitoring dollars and people further. If it's an option of closure versus different system you need to do to go fishing, I will sign up for the different system 100% of the time.

A favorite piece of winter river that I like to fish stayed closed this last year "because it couldn't be monitored", while crowded downstream sections were opened. I worry that as monitoring dollars run out, they are going to push angling toward high intensity days and places only, that gives the most people "opportunity" and is the cheapest $$ option per angler monitored. If you like fishing in a crowd, maybe things are fine. The places where you have to sweat and walk and are more off the radar and might not see anyone else, those are what we lose when monitoring becomes necessary.

I want to know what can be done to keep those places open. I dislike fishing in a crowd. The status quo isn't going to work unless we fall into monster fish returns spaces, and I am not holding my breath for that.

 

[DKL]

If they close a fishery down, they still have to have some ability to enforce it. Seems like that cost and need exists whether a body of water is open or not.

 

[Smalma]

At last night's NOF meting I brought this issue. Kelly Cunningham (head of fish management) reported this is still on the chopping block and the budget issues may well go into a special session. He seemed to be hopeful that they could recovery some funding. I asked if they were to get partial funding how would they prioritize what they would fund? And whether they would consult with the users/public? It appears that their thinking had gone that far.

Bottom line my impression is that things do not look promising.

It might help for those of you interested to send an email (WDFW fish management, WDFW commission and local legislators) providing your priority fishery(s) if there are only limited funds available.

Curt

 

[32mm]

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was asking about angler involved monitoring outside of what WDFW does during the Skagit spring steelhead fishery. That is great to hear what they are doing down on the Columbia. The more data the better. I appreciate the reply and information.
SF

Yes, they've been running this program for three years now. I believe last year they had maybe close to 60 or so scale samples provided from anglers to WDFW. It's a good program that hopefully can be replicated in other regions and areas to improve age-class data.

Here is an article with a little more info on the program and the flier provided by WDFW: https://www.wildsteelheaders.org/winter-steelhead-citizen-science-opportunity/

 

[Stonedfish]

Yes, they've been running this program for three years now. I believe last year they had maybe close to 60 or so scale samples provided from anglers to WDFW. It's a good program that hopefully can be replicated in other regions and areas to improve age-class data.

Here is an article with a little more info on the program and the flier provided by WDFW: https://www.wildsteelheaders.org/winter-steelhead-citizen-science-opportunity/

Thank you!
That is very informative. I hope WDFW promotes more citizen science programs like these to get more data.
SF

 

[32mm]

Thank you!
That is very informative. I hope WDFW promotes more citizen science programs like these to get more data.
SF

I agree! It seems that Region 5 is a leader for being at the forefront of programs like this and the current efforts to develop a Management Strategy Evaluation for the Lower Columbia tributaries. Hopeful that with the recent fish program leadership change in Region 6, things might improve, but one region at a time.

 

[Josh]

Gonna bump this thread back up again to get some more eyes on it.

 

[IHFISH]

I sent a personal email and one based on Chris’ sample. Today I received a response to the former from my state senator letting me know that he asked a staffer to dig into it.

The staffer wrote me that:

“It looks like on page 1102, line (15) (of the Senate proposed budget) there is $822,000 of the general fund to monitor steelhead spawning and harvest in freshwater streams and rivers in the Puget Sound.”

https://fiscal.wa.gov/statebudgets/2025proposals/Documents/so/soESSB5167.pdf

I’m not conversant enough in the budget details to know if that general fund allocation could fund monitoring of the skagit/sauk C&R fishery or not but it sounds separate to me. Hopefully I’m wrong about that or the funding comes through.

 

[_WW_]

I sent a personal email and one based on Chris’ sample. Today I received a response to the former from my state senator letting me know that he asked a staffer to dig into it.

The staffer wrote me that:

“It looks like on page 1102, line (15) (of the Senate proposed budget) there is $822,000 of the general fund to monitor steelhead spawning and harvest in freshwater streams and rivers in the Puget Sound.”

https://fiscal.wa.gov/statebudgets/2025proposals/Documents/so/soESSB5167.pdf

I’m not conversant enough in the budget details to know if that general fund allocation could fund monitoring of the skagit/sauk C&R fishery or not but it sounds separate to me. Hopefully I’m wrong about that or the funding comes through.

If you're looking for it it's in Section 1306.

 

[tomb]

it's a bit odd, because the link is to the 2025-7 senate operating budget proposal, but the years haven't been updated in the section referenced by IHFISH...it refers to 2024-2025 biennium....might want to confirm that they actually intend the funding to continue...

 

[_WW_]

the funding referenced appears to be for the CURRENT rather than the future biennium starting July 1, 2025: View attachment 149548

True that. However the title of the document is:
SENATE BILL 5167
State of Washington, 69th Legislature, 2025 Regular Session

I don't think they start from scratch every two years, but amend the previous budget.

 

[Mollusk]

I sent a personal email and one based on Chris’ sample. Today I received a response to the former from my state senator letting me know that he asked a staffer to dig into it.

The staffer wrote me that:

“It looks like on page 1102, line (15) (of the Senate proposed budget) there is $822,000 of the general fund to monitor steelhead spawning and harvest in freshwater streams and rivers in the Puget Sound.”

https://fiscal.wa.gov/statebudgets/2025proposals/Documents/so/soESSB5167.pdf

I’m not conversant enough in the budget details to know if that general fund allocation could fund monitoring of the skagit/sauk C&R fishery or not but it sounds separate to me. Hopefully I’m wrong about that or the funding comes through.

Hey IHFISH, my reading is that this isn't indicative of it being funded in the upcoming biennium. Mind letting me know which office this was? (direct message is fine if you'd prefer) I might follow up with them directly to make sure we're all on the same page.

 

[GOTY]

Just received some groundbreaking news in the thoughtful response I got (see below). You can tell by the amount of effort that went into this that they must have used every second of the last month to come up with such a robust and detailed response. I'm tickled and will most certainly be voting for her again!




Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with Senator on the proposed tax legislation. Senator truly values hearing from her constituents, as it helps her better understand the issues that matter most to you. Your perspective on the proposed legislation is incredibly helpful, and Senator will keep it in mind as budget negotiations continue this legislative session.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out again if you have any further comments or questions.


Sincerely,

F

 

[skyriver]

Just received some groundbreaking news in the thoughtful response I got (see below). You can tell by the amount of effort that went into this that they must have used every second of the last month to come up with such a robust and detailed response. I'm tickled and will most certainly be voting for her again!




Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with Senator on the proposed tax legislation. Senator truly values hearing from her constituents, as it helps her better understand the issues that matter most to you. Your perspective on the proposed legislation is incredibly helpful, and Senator will keep it in mind as budget negotiations continue this legislative session.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out again if you have any further comments or questions.


Sincerely,

F

I wonder how many gallons of water AI drank to crank out that response to every incoming email in the last month?