OLYMPIA — The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife is inviting the public to a coastal steelhead virtual town hall at 5 p.m. Nov. 29.
The town hall will wrap up the WDFW’s four-part series of meetings this fall to gather public feedback ahead of the 2021-2022 coastal steelhead season. The meeting is slated to include discussion of co-manager agreed-to fishing plans for the season.
“Public feedback is at the core of how we move forward toward a plan for next season and this final town hall is a critical part of this process,” said Kelly Cunningham, WDFW fish program director.
WDFW fishery managers will spend the weeks ahead of the town hall finalizing management plans alongside tribal co-managers that will guide the approach to the 2021-2022 coastal steelhead season. WDFW staff will also update the Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Fish Committee on the anticipated approach for the coastal steelhead season during a special meeting Wednesday.
The outlook for coastal steelhead is poor, with the most recent returns in 2021 failing to meet escapement goals, which reflect the number of steelhead surviving to the spawning grounds. Furthermore, the 2021 total returns to the Washington coast were the lowest on record.
To help achieve conservation objectives, last season’s fishery restricted the use of bait and fishing from a boat, ultimately ending in an early closure to help increase the number of wild steelhead that return to the spawning grounds. Tribal governments took similar steps to help support coastal steelhead conservation.
For more information about the Nov. 29 town hall, previous meetings and other opportunities to share feedback, people can visit wdfw.wa.gov/coastal-steelhead.
The meeting will be recorded and posted online so people can also watch afterward.
