OLYMPIA — Lake Sutherland anglers received a partial reprieve from the state Fish and Wildlife Commission at a public meeting Friday afternoon.
The commission, which sets policy for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, voted unanimously to partially exclude the popular freshwater trout and kokanee salmon fishery from a five-year fishing moratorium on the Elwha River watershed.
Sutherland, which now allows fishing year-around, will now only be open part of the year.
The lake will close to fishing after Oct. 31 and reopen from then on from the last Saturday in April through October beginning next year.
The Elwha and the rest of its tributaries will close to all angling year-round beginning this fall.
Becca Yucha, who lives on Lake Sutherland — the lone North Olympic Peninsula resident to speak at Friday’s meeting — called the decision a victory for area anglers. The new regulations take effect May 1.
“I’m just so glad I get to go back to people [on the North Olympic Peninsula] and tell them, ‘We won,” said Yucha, who helped solicit 624 signatures on a petition asking the state to keep Sutherland open to fishing.
“This is exactly how it should work. [Fish and Wildlife] had a proposal, the public didn’t like that, they spoke up, they were listened to and the agency compromised.”
The fishing moratorium is being done to protect anadromous fish runs — salmon and steelhead — during and after the removal of two dams on the Elwha River.
A proposal submitted for public comment this past November originally included Sutherland in that closure because of its connection to the watershed via Indian Creek and its potential as a sockeye salmon breeding ground.
Kokanee are landlocked salmon.
