BaitByte Alert: Another Salmon Gill Net Season in the Columbia?
YEP; GOING ON NOW BELOW BONNEVILLE DAM RIGHT NOW!!!!!
Sorry for 2 press releases in the same day but this is important. You want to talk about miss-management of a fishery! I am so pissed off I can hardly type!
One of the SaveMyFish readers reported this to me and I could not believe it. So I called both the Oregon and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife. It took me a while to get in touch with the right folks but sure enough:
“Yes, there are a few select gillnet days in July and August”.
That my friends; is a Crock of Carp Crap!
Here is the issue in my opinion, the damn counts for the month of August when this fishery is taking place are:
Chinook passage: 2,455 (Summer Hawgs as they are called)
Steelhead passage: 36,091 (of which 8,068 Wild Fish)
So tell me what the MAJORITY of fish hitting the nets are? Can you say Steelhead?
Those 8k wild fish are B Run Summer Steelhead bound for Idaho! Any gillnet that will catch a Salmon will Catch a Steelhead!
I suggest you call or e-mail the department of you choice and express your concerns about the “unannounced special top-secret gill net season’!
Hell; call all 3 of them as “they” set this season. “They” got an ear full from me! No worries, I told them I was my friend Mike W!
Note: If you would like an anonymous e-mail address let me know and I will get you a SaveMyFish address; but please use your name.
Washington:
The phone number is: 360-902-2200
You can send an e-mail to: director@dfw.wa.gov
Oregon:
The phone number is: 800-720-6339
You can send an e-mail to: odfw.comments@state.or.us
Idaho:
The phone number is: (208) 334-3700
You can send an e-mail to: idfginfo@idfg.idaho.gov
Rich
rich@savemyfish.org
www.savemyfish.org
Eel-Steelhead Kill on Columbia
The only ones running gillnets in that part of the Columbia are Indians.
Police asking for help solving eel and steelhead slaughterOregon State Police game officers are asking for the public's help in solving the wasting of 37 steelhead and 181 Pacific Lamprey eels from the Columbia River at Celilo Park. There is a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
Of 37 steelhead, 22 are wild. The species is considered "threatened" under the federal Endangered Species Act. The steelhead, which were gutted, had markings that showed they were caught with a gillnet, police said.
The Pacific Lamprey eel was listed in 1993 as an Oregon State sensitive species, with increased harvest protection added three years later. Federal designation as an endangered species awaits more documentation. Their harvest is limited to designated Indian tribes.
"Considering the small size of some of the listed (steelhead) populations in the Mid‑Columbia, actions such as this incident can have significant long term effects on the population's persistence and recovery" said Rod French, a Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist.
The reward is being offered by the Turn in Poachers (TIP) program run by the Oregon Hunters Association.
http://www.oregonhunters.org/about_oha.htm
Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. John Katzenstein at the Oregon State Police office in The Dalles, (541) 296‑9646, or the Turn In Poachers (TIP) hotline at 1‑800‑452‑7888. Information may be kept anonymous.
