PORT TOWNSEND — Flatfish have recovered enough in Hood Canal that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife is proposing a limited renewal of fishing for flounder, sole and other species in Quilcene Bay and the northern portion of Dabob Bay.
Recreational fishing would be opened for flounder, sole and other flatfish except halibut.
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission will hear public testimony on the proposal at 10:15 a.m. Friday during its meeting at the Capital Events Center, 6005 Tyee Drive S.W. in Tumwater.
The commission meeting begins today. This issue is on Friday’s agenda.
The commission, which sets policy for the department, is expected to take action on the proposal at its meeting in June.
Fisheries managers took public comments through April 1.
Fishing would be restricted to water shallower than 120 feet in Quilcene and Dabob bays in an area north of a line stretching east from Point Whitney to the Toandos Peninsula.
Low-dissolved oxygen
Fishing for a variety of species, including flatfish, has been closed in Hood Canal since 2004 to provide additional protection for fish populations that are susceptible to low-dissolved oxygen events, said Craig Burley, manager of Fish and Wildlife’s fish management division.
“Recent studies show that populations of flatfish have significantly increased in these bays over the last decade,” Burley said.
“So we’re proposing a fishery in those areas that would allow for limited recreational opportunity while still ensuring we meet conservation objectives for those species.”
The harvest of Pacific halibut, lingcod and other bottomfish, as well as forage fish, would be prohibited because of continuing conservation concerns for those species, Burley said.
For more than a decade, low-dissolved oxygen events throughout Hood Canal have caused significant die-offs of marine life, including many species of fish, shellfish and invertebrates.
In September 2010, for instance, hundreds of dead fish and thousands of dead shrimp washed up on the beaches of the southern part of Hood Canal because of low oxygen levels.
Thousands died in 2006 because of the condition.
Hood Canal is an underwater fjord where normal oxygen exchange in the water takes place slowly because of the canal’s depth and shape, Fish and Wildlife said.
Algae blooms
The situation is aggravated by blooms of algae, which absorbs oxygen from the water as it decomposes.
Under certain weather and wind conditions, the level of life-sustaining dissolved oxygen in the water drops so low that fish and other underwater species suffocate.
A study in 2004 named septic systems along Hood Canal as the No. 1 man-made cause of high nitrogen in the water.
For more information, see http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Hoodcanalflatfish.
