HOPING TO AVOID a repeat of last fall’s bombshell winter steelhead rule change rollout, state fishery managers have drawn back the curtain a bit on the planning process, including hosting a preliminary coastal steelhead town hall last week.
The moves, announced two weeks into the beginning of hatchery steelhead season last December, curtailed fishing from floating devices on any coastal river from Forks south through Grays Harbor, shortened seasons and required adoption of selective-gear restrictions that disallowed bait or scent and required single-point barbless hooks.
They were implemented because a number of coastal wild steelhead runs are forecast to return below escapement goals and fail to meet conservation objectives, as they have the past four seasons.
Many anglers and guides were upset at the one-size-fits-all methodology for all coastal rivers, even those expected to achieve escapement such as the Quillayute River system.
2021-22 planning
During the meeting, the season-setting plan moving forward was spelled out by Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Cunningham.
By the middle of this month, Fish and Wildlife will finalize escapement estimates and exchange pre-season forecasts with treaty tribal co-managers in early September before coming to an agreement in early October.
Final escapement numbers and preliminary forecasts will be revealed at an October town hall meeting with final pre-season planning set for a November town hall.
Fish and Wildlife committee members will be briefed Nov. 19. A fourth town hall will be held later in November to communicate the agreed-upon fishing plans, and winter steelhead and fishing rules will be announced Dec. 1.
State biologists expected steelhead catches to be reduced by as much as 50 percent on rivers coast-wide due to the changes and for at least one West End river, that appears to have occurred.
Fishery manager James Losee said the number of hours fished increased on both the Upper and Lower Hoh, while the average catch per unit of effort declined by nearly half from just under 0.4 to 0.2.
“The preliminary estimate suggests it likely had an effect,” Losee said. “We had pretty stable catch-per-unit of effort [on the Hoh from 2018-2020], and we saw significant decline [from January through March 2021].”
Advisory group
Fish and Wildlife also is seeking applicants for an ad-hoc advisory group to help develop management plans for the state’s coastal steelhead populations and fisheries.
The advisory group will help “develop a plan to protect native and hatchery produced steelhead for each river system of Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay and coastal Olympic Peninsula,” as required by the state Legislature in the 2021-23 budget.
The work of the 12-member advisory group will be modeled partly after the Puget Sound Steelhead Advisory Group, which helped develop the Quicksilver monitoring and evaluation package for Puget Sound steelhead.
Advisors will be selected based on their knowledge of steelhead fisheries and life history, willingness to engage in the management process and their ability to communicate with fishery managers, any constituent groups they represent and other advisors and organizations.
Individuals may self-apply or be nominated by a group or another individual. All nominations should be accompanied by a letter expressing the nominee’s interest in the role, including credentials or a resume outlining their qualifications for the advisory group. Nominations should also include:
Name, address, telephone number and email address of nominee.
If applicable, the individual or organization submitting the nomination.
Affiliations with guide or charter groups or other fishery- and/or conservation-related organizations.
Nominations can be submitted to Cathy Davidson, WDFW Fish Program, at P.O. box 43200, Olympia, WA, 98504, or by email at cathy.davidson@dfw.wa.gov.
The first review of applicants will occur Sept. 10.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-406-0674 or mcarman@ peninsuladailynews.com.
