PORT ANGELES — An overflow crowd of about 125 people gave a thumbs-down to including Lake Sutherland in a state Fish and Wildlife proposal to enact a five-year fishing moratorium for the Elwha River and its tributaries at a public meeting Wednesday.
About two dozen people stood in the aisles in a Peninsula College classroom meant to hold 100 people.
Every comment received at the three-hour meeting opposed the idea or expressed doubt that closing the lake would help restore runs of anadromous sockeye, which migrate from the ocean, as the state agency hopes it will.
“This is the only decent lake on the [North Olympic] Peninsula within two hours for most of us to fish,” said John Albiso, president of the North Olympic Chapter of the Washington Coastal Conservation Association.
“It looks like to us it’s the end of fishing forever at Lake Sutherland,” said Lon Riggs of Port Angeles.
Fish and Wildlife is proposing the moratorium for the Elwha River to help protect fish runs during and after removal of its two dams.
Dam removal, the focus of a $350 million federal project to restore the river’s ecosystem, will begin in September and last until March 2014.
The marathon of comments — which showed support for a fishing moratorium for the river as long as it didn’t include the lake — also questioned whether there is research support including the lake in the move, which would start in November, and whether it would be limited only to five years if approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission in February.
Fish and Wildlife Regional Fish Program Manager Ron Warren admitted that it’s unknown how much impact fishing would have on the return of anadromous sockeye to the lake, which is connected to the Elwha River through Indian Creek.
Warren said the lake is being considered for the closure to help the anadromous sockeye, which may return when the dams are removed.
Kokanee (landlocked sockeye) inhabit the lake, and it’s possible, Warren said, that they will breed with sockeye when they inhabit the same body of water.
“Our thinking is that we would use that to help restore the population within that watershed,” he said.
But when a commenter said Fish and Wildlife can’t say what impact fishing would have on that, Warren said, “You’re right; we can’t.”
“What we’re saying is Mother Nature can do a better job than we can,” he later added.
Warren also said that the moratorium, if approved, could last more than five years.
“Our goal is to open as soon as possible, if indeed everything closes,” he said, adding that the Lake Sutherland would likely be reopened first.
Warren said the moratorium is needed partly to ensure that all of the fish species survive dam demolition.
Fish in the two reservoirs will have to adapt to the switch to a river ecosystem, and anadromous fish below the dams will find the lower river less hospitable as waves of sediment blocked behind the dams are washed downstream.
Warren said the moratorium will give those populations a better chance of survival by giving them a boost before the dams come down and protecting them for a few years after demolition.
But why close fishing for all species at the lake?
Warren said the concern is that those fish that are re-establishing themselves upstream from the dams will be caught accidentally.
After the meeting, he said he appreciated the comments and ensured that the Fish and Wildlife Commission will be briefed on the input.
“They got a voice, and I’m going to carry that voice forward,” Warren said.
Several also questioned whether nontribal fishermen are bearing most of the burden.
Both the Olympic National Park and Lower Elwha Klallam tribe have agreed to participate in the moratorium.
The Fish and Wildlife Commission will conduct a public hearing at its Jan. 7-8 meeting in Olympia.
It will consider adopting the proposal at its Feb. 4-5 meeting.
Comments can be submitted to Fish and Wildlife Rules Coordinator Lori Preuss at lori.preuss@dfw.wa.gov or 600 N. Capitol Way, Olympia, WA 98501.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
