A long-term management strategy for coastal steelhead is required by the state Legislature in the 2021-23 budget, and as part of that requirement, the first meeting of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Ad-hoc Coastal Steelhead Advisory Group will be held online from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday.
The meeting will be available at www.tinyurl.com/PDN-SteelheadAG
Ad-hoc advisory group members will devise an approach to managing steelhead fisheries for each river system on the coastal Olympic Peninsula, Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay.
“Representing a cross-section of coastal steelhead guides, research scientists, sport anglers, business owners, environmentalists and others who are committed to coastal steelhead recovery, this advisory group is a critical part of the Department’s work to help protect steelhead all along the coast,” said Kelly Cunningham, director of the department’s Fish Program. “We’re looking forward to kicking off our work together and the added opportunities for public feedback that this long-term management planning process will provide.”
The virtual meeting will include a briefing on the advisory group process and the status of steelhead in coastal watersheds.
The meeting will focus on member discussion, but organizers say there will be time for public comment.
Razor digs Monday
Shovels, head lamps, sand and lots and lots of digging. Valentine’s Day razor clamming certainly sounds like a romantic way to spend the evening.
Razor clam digs begin Monday at the following beaches:
• Monday, 5:35 p.m.; 0.0 feet; Long Beach.
• Tuesday, 6:09 p.m.; -0.3 feet; Long Beach, Mocrocks.
• Wednesday, 6:42 p.m.; -0.4 feet; Long Beach, Copalis.
• Thursday, 7:14 p.m.; -0.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors.
• Friday, Feb. 18, 7:45 p.m.; -0.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis.
Pacific Rim research
Hopefully, the joint-NOAA/Canada/Russia/South Korea/Japan research expedition currently studying how salmon weather the winter at sea on the North Pacific Ocean can figure out a definitive answer to what’s eating all the Alaskan king and snow crab stock.
North Pacific Fishery Management Council survey data has shown an approximately 90 percent drop in snow crab stocks since the last survey, pushing acceptable catch limits down, while the long-term decline of Bristol Bay red king crab has led to a complete closure in the fishery for the first time since 1994.
The Alaska Bering Sea Crabbers Association, the trade group that represents the majority of crab harvesters in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands rationalization program, has estimated a $200 million loss for the fishery.
Quilcene’s Ward Norden, a former fisheries biologist, believes plankton-eating salmon are snapping up all the crab larvae.
“There is a theory out called the ‘tipping point,’ studying the enormous increase in plankton-feeding salmon releases around the Pacific Rim in the last four years,” Norden said. “Estimates from the various nations run as high as 10 billion smolts of chum, pinks and sockeye. It has a lot of credibility.”
A 2019 study by the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences shows that close to 6 billion hatchery-raised salmon are released each year throughout the North Pacific Ocean. That number has grown steadily since the 1970s, when only half a billion hatchery salmon were released.
“Alaska Fish and Game is postulating global warming, of course, but I disagree,” Norden said. “When you release 10 billion crab-fry eating smolts into the North Pacific, there will be an effect on the ecosystem.”
