No more Skagit Steelhead!

[Paige]

Well it was fun while it lasted.

State Budget Cuts Will Affect Washington Fishing, Hatchery Production -

WDFW is laying off staffers for 29 positions, not filling many of 170 vacancies, shutting down a hatchery, closing a popular steelhead fishery next year and is being forced to let a predator suppression project largely lapse as a result of Washington lawmakers' recently approved two-year budget.

nwsportsmanmag.com

 

[jeradjames]

Sad how bad things are for the Skagit, Stilly, and Snoho system which are my home waters. I have nothing to add that hasn’t already been discussed before other than more continued disappointment. It’s hard for a newer angler to get excited about our angling opportunities in comparison to how things could be if things were properly managed. If they take away Puget Sound SRC fishing I’d consider moving.

 

[Chris DeLeone]

In my opinion, Kelly Cunningham and the department are holding this fishery hostage - They know how popular it is, they want us to feel their budget pain. Loss of our funding, loss of your fishing opportunities.

 

[Evan B]

In my opinion, Kelly Cunningham and the department are holding this fishery hostage - They know how popular it is, they want us to feel their budget pain. Loss of our funding, loss of your fishing opportunities.

Then what's their endgame in that?

 

[Mossback]

I seriously doubt if even 1% of licensed anglers ever participate in that fishery, and also can't see an end game either...it's just a place to cut, and with the monitoring needed to have the fishery open, most probably the cost per angler day is higher than most other fisheries, making it a candidate.

 

[_WW_]

Well...this ought to thin out the crowds.

 

[ChrisC]

In my opinion, Kelly Cunningham and the department are holding this fishery hostage - They know how popular it is, they want us to feel their budget pain. Loss of our funding, loss of your fishing opportunities.

It’s yet another example of WDFW taking away fishing opportunity and having little regard for the interests of sport fishermen. Unfortunately the agency treats sport fishermen more as tools to reduce an over abundance of hatchery fish (e.g. last year’s Methow and other limited openings).

 

[Rob Allen]

Well it was fun while it lasted.

State Budget Cuts Will Affect Washington Fishing, Hatchery Production -

WDFW is laying off staffers for 29 positions, not filling many of 170 vacancies, shutting down a hatchery, closing a popular steelhead fishery next year and is being forced to let a predator suppression project largely lapse as a result of Washington lawmakers' recently approved two-year budget.

nwsportsmanmag.com

They should be required to eliminate administrative staff and functions. Not the more publicly used stuff. They serve us not themselves. They should start at the very top.

 

[Rob Allen]

Then what's their endgame in that?

The end game? Cushy salaries, benefits,and retirement for everyone in Olympia and screw the rest.

 

[Evan B]

They should be required to eliminate administrative staff and functions. Not the more publicly used stuff. They serve us not themselves. They should start at the very top.

I think in general, it's a mix of that and them serving the other interest holders first, such as commercial harvest. Sport fishermen are at the very bottom of the priority list for fish & wildlife management.

 

[the_chemist]

Well shit.....

 

[Chris DeLeone]

Then what's their endgame in that?

They close a popular fishery, we complain about it, they don't have too and then get money for the popular fishery they closed - while still funding their pet projects - that's the hostage taking

They should have put this monitoring for both the Puget Sound and the Columbia system in their permanent budget, not just look for funding yearly or funding it each biennium as an add-on.

 

[Guy Gregory]

From the article: "WDFW’s ability to complete fishery management evaluation plans for Columbia River salmon and steelhead stocks, several of which are listed under the Endangered Species Act and require careful oversight, was reduced, slowing the completion of the plans and “putting the affected fisheries at risk,” he said.

Also impacted, funding for stewarding and maintaining agency lands, roads and accesses; responding to wildlife diseases except for CWD; and coordinating ecological assessments, streamflow policies and prioritizing fish passage barrier corrections. Game warden vacancies will go unfilled."

Puget Sound steelhead is an American tragedy. But pay attention: Columbia/Snake cuts will hit soon, accesses will suffer, with some become unusable public health hazards, and the environmental and enforcement work of WDFW in support of all kinds of stuff behind the
scenes will go begging.

IMHO this isn't the start, that started some years ago. And the Skagit situation isn't the end. But we can see what will prove a reasonable facsimile to the end for outdoor sportspeople. The commercials get their way.

 

[charles sullivan]

They close a popular fishery, we complain about it, they don't have too and then get money for the popular fishery they closed - while still funding their pet projects - that's the hostage taking

They should have put this monitoring for both the Puget Sound and the Columbia system in their permanent budget, not just look for funding yearly or funding it each biennium as an add-on.

I tend to agree.

They had to make cuts. It is not the departments choice to make cuts. That is dictated by the budget process. Once the department has to to decide what to cut it becomes a game of politics. It generally does not help a department long term to make cuts that do not affect the public. Add to it that history has shown that the group of anglers that fish the Skagit are likely to be a bit more politically active than others and it incentivizes cutting it.

I wonder how this effects tribal fisheries?

It's an expensive fishery.

 

[dabobbay]

Raise your license costs 38%, then cut one of the more culturally significant fisheries in the PNW. What a slap in the face.

 

[speedbird]

That's sad, I wish I got to fish it one last time. The past couple of years Spring time on the Sauk has been my go to place for my mental health. Even when the catching was slow, there was a lot of decent water with minimal crowds. There a sense of serenity in fishing upper reaches of river as the Pacific Northwest slowly blossoms from winter that honestly no other fishery has given me. I even managed to find a couple holes that I knew for a fact held fish

 

[Stonedfish]

With the limited opportunities now for steelhead, maybe they should offer a freshwater license without steelhead.
If you want to fish steelhead, it’s a special endorsement that brings the cost up to what it would normally be price wise for a freshwater license.
I’d certainly opt out of getting a steelhead endorsement.
No reason to pay for steelhead if you don’t intend to target them and with very limited opportunities statewide and especially in the Puget Sound region.
SF

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

Honest question: it's clear our state is actively attempting to eliminate hunting and fishing as much as possible. At what point are people going to wake up?

 

[Paige]

Honest question: it's clear our state is actively attempting to eliminate hunting and fishing as much as possible. At what point are people going to wake up?

Those that hunt and fish are just a small fraction of the states population.

 

[Buzzy]

Those that hunt and fish are just a small fraction of the states population.

I agree that we anglers (and you hunters) are just a fraction of the population; we're just a fraction that bitches amongst ourselves. Anyone feel like getting pissed off enough to start writing your congressmen ("mail a letter a week")?