News from the shellfish advisory group

A few months ago I became aware that the department of fish and wildlife was going to change the composition of the Puget Sound recreational crab and shrimp advisory group. I applied and was selected. During our most recent meeting, one of the topics was potential regulation changes for 2008. We will have a meeting scheduled in a couple months to discuss any and all ideas for regulation changes.

One of the responsibilities I have as an advisor is to communicate with people who like to catch crab and shrimp. If you, the reader of The Reel News, have any suggestions for regulation changes, please contact me with your ideas.

First though, let me give you some background on what is available for change and what is not.

• Allocation between sport and commercial fisheries is not part of the regulation process. That is part of a policy review process. The commission sets the timetable for policy review and I don’t have info on when that might occur.
• This process can not regulate the tribal or commercial fishing seasons. Again, a different process is responsible for these types of changes.
• What can be considered are changes to seasons, bag limits and gear restrictions for sport crab and shrimp fisheries. Use your regulation pamphlet as a guide to determine regulations that can be considered for change.
• If you choose to contact me, please explain the reason why you think the regulation requires changing.
• I can not expect to reply to every contact. I will read them all, and if I have questions I will contact you.
• Specific to email…. While I appreciate a good laugh, I don’t need any new jokes. I don’t need any good deals on "performance enhancement" for a specific "dysfunction" or any cures for crabs. Keep the comments shellfish specific please.
• I expect there will be renewed discussion the structure of the season. WDFW shellfish staff have received lots of comments about the season structure. When last a change was made, the advisors supported the intent of preserving some winter crabbing opportunity. The letters WDFW has received indicate that a lot of people wish to concentrate only on summer seasons, specifically, having Sunday open again. Of course, it is not as simple as choosing winter seasons or Sunday. Having Sundays open may result in loosing weeks of the summer season in addition to any time in the winter.

 

RFA-Washington@comcast.net or RFA Washington Chapter, P.O. Box 58010, Seattle WA, 98138

Mike Gilchrist

PS Recreational Fisheries enhacement oversight meeting

The latest of the oversight committee meetings spent much of the yesterday evening reviewing the program for the new members. Once that was finally out of the way, we enjoyed a terific presentation detailing the survival of the blackmouth the program produces at each facility and their contribution to Puget Sound sport fisheries. That was then compared to the survival of the normal Puget Sound hatchery chinook releases and thier contribution to the Puget Sound sport fisheries.

 

The data shows that the blackmouth (fish raised in the hatchery for about a year) do not currently survive well when compared to normal hatchery chinook releases(In the past the blackmouth survived better, but something has changed).

 

However, even at low survival rates, the blackmouth contribute heavily to the Puget Sound sport fisheries because they we are keeping them away from the West coast Vancouver Island fisheries and other ocean fisheries.

 

Mike

WDFW PS Crab meeting

I also attended the meeting, though I knew what they pitching prior to it. They did present some biological info that was new to me... size -vs.- age, molting schedule details, mating patterns, etc…
For those of you that can not attend one of the meetings, a quick overview:

· If we are to get better crab fisheries part of the responsibility is on the sports fishers.

· Currently the sport catch is calculated by telephone survey and the data unreliable. The alternative is to ensure that people enter in the catch from their cards.

· The current cards are going away and replaced by a card printed where you buy the license.

· The proposal they are pitching is to issue two cards, the first of which would be required to be returned shortly after labor day, even if you did not crab. Then the second card would be used for the planned winter opening.

· The proposal would likely create the option of entering your catch online instead of turning in you card.

· The proposal would likely create an incentive for turning in your card. A chance at a free fishing license, or a free vacation.

· The proposal may include a penalty for not returning your card, or stronger enforcement of existing penalties. The penalty might be part of the program right away or after a couple years if the voluntary cooperation is not attained.

· Under this proposal, the telephone survey would still be used, but the more people comply with returning their cards the less they would need to rely on the phone survey.

This proposal does not address the allocation problem, but it does help to get us some better data. So I support it. Once the data is defendable then we might have the leverage to complain when the data from other fisheries is suspect.

April PMFC groundfish report

Report from RFA representative on the Groundfish Advisory Panel (GAP). My notes in color.

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There was much that occurred at the Sacramento PFMC in addition to Klamath salmon issues. The groundfish items on the agenda were extensive and controversial.

My report comes with the following disclaimer. This is what I recall from memory and notes. Be sure to check the PFMC website next week to see if any of this corresponds with actual Council decisions. It should be close. www.pcouncil.org. Expect updates before April 12.

We started Sunday afternoon with California�s Sanctuaries (CINMS) continuing attempts to regulate fishing. The GAP (Groundfish Advisory subPanel) issued the usual opinion: No. We have a sactuary off the Washington coast as well. They were put in place to provide protection from oil drilling and other heavy industrial activity. Some of their staff want to get into the buisness of regulating fishing despite the fact that the PMFC has been tasked that responsibility.

We were given a presentation about NMFS�s recent work in compiling socio-economic information about all of the fishing sectors. This is being done as a way to counter the numerous lawsuits by environmental groups. The MSA (Magnuson-Stevens Act) states that all overfished species must be rebuilt in the shortest time possible while accounting for the needs of fishing communities. The needs of the communities have been marginalized due in part to weak data in that area. Hopefully this data can be better developed and rise in its weight in the courts. It is especially weak in the recreational sector. Many of the recent lawsuits have constrained fisheries for all sectors even further.

We addressed groundfish management for the 07/08 seasons. We picked harvest/OY (optimum yield) alternatives for final consideration from among overfished species as well as those with healthy status. This list included approximately 28 species. Each needed to be done individually with economic justification for every OY selection made. The GAP report to the Council was over 11 pages long. The species of major concern was yelloweye rockfish. It is a constraining species even when fully recovered. It is very small and allows only for a catch of 36 mt (metric tons) coastwide (WA/OR/CA) when fully recovered. It is our spotted owl of the West Coast. These yelloweye constraints have nothing to do with sustainable fishing practices and I testified as much to the Council. Two yelloweye preferred alternatives for consideration at the June council meeting were adopted. We will have to reduce our bycatch by roughly half in the near future. One approach is a step-down starting with 23mt in 07 and 21mt in 08 and so on. The bottom will be at about 13.5mt in five years. This amount is coastwide. This year (06) is 27mt. The second approach is to go straight to 12.6mt for 07. The 2005 season used the 27mt number as well. In Washinton the sport piece of the pie was 3.5 metric tons. In 2005 we saw all bottom fishing closed down outside of 20 fatchoms in the middle of summer, and we still went 1.5 mt over. You can imagine what cutting that number in half might look like. No halibut season? Three environmental groups (NRDC, Ocean Conservancy, & Oceana) are already rattling their swords by submitting a letter to the council saying that the step down approach is not to their liking and they see this as proof of the need for marine reserves to protect yelloweye. This small stock problem is a political one, as we are not considering all of the yelloweye in the Northeast Pacific. We draw a line through the population at the US/Canada border by necessity. The result is a population small in original size due to the fact that Canadian yelloweye cannot be included.

Management measures were developed for 07 & 08 to accommodate the harvest levels. Not much significant except yelloweye recreational season structure which could be a two-month groundfish season inside of 20 fathoms at worse (this is related to Oregon, not sure what Washington might look like). We don�t think it will get to that but it is possible. We also did stock assessment planning for the future years.

Mitchell Act Coalition Meeting

The coalition met today to discuss strategy. Everyone left with
assignments for who they were going to talk to. One of the challenges is
developing a political champion in congress for our cause. With a
republican dominated congress and Washington and Oregon having a
majority democratic delegation we are have a formidable challenge.

Coastal Rockfish meeting #2

Januarry 11:

After the first meeting when we learned that significant restrictions were needed I attended this meeting with low expectations. I was expecting to see restriction on harvest of any groundfish when retaining halibut or salmon at a minimum. But we caught a small break. It turns out that California was using a 50% release mortality number on all rockfish caught within 20 fathoms as opposed to the 100% we had been using for yelloweye. I did not expect to see any mortality data along these lines prior to 2007. What this is allowing us to do is use the depth restrictions as a viable management tool again.

Just to be clear, the following is just the direction we are heading. The council will have to approve it. And this is for 2006 only. It is still likely that we will be facing more severe restrictions for 07/08:

• For the North coast their will be a 20 fathom restriction on all rockfish/lingcod fishing except on days when halibut is open. On days when halibut is open all depths are available to us.
  
• Westport will see a 30 fathom maximum depth limit for rockfish/lingcod either during Halibut or during Salmon Season (they have to run the numbers).
  
• Illwaco will not allow any rockfish on board when halibut is onboard.
  

PRSE-OC Meeting

December 14:

The committee concentrated on working on the format of the recreational fisheries strategic plan.

The committee also was briefed on the upcoming Department of Heath Puget Sound seafood consumption advisory. You can expect to see a notice specifying the amounts of resident fish a person should consume. The warning will include Puget Sound groundfish and resident salmon. No committee member, after a detailed presentation, considered the upcoming advisory to be a significant problem for anglers or the fishery. For those who fish resident blackmouth regularly and are concerned about their consumption, I advise searching for online information about the way they clean salmon caught in the great lakes fisheries to eliminate the risk.

Mike

National Marine Protected Areas Center Meeting

December 13:

The national Marine Protected Ares Center, created by executive order during the Clinton administration, held a meeting titled "West Coast Region Public Dialogue: Envisioning a National System of MPA's".

The majority of the participants were representatives from environmental organizations. There were also several university professors, tribal representatives, and a smattering of independent advocates.

There were two distinctive points of view and reactions to the process.

• Of the people representing environmental groups, some were clearly frustrated that the executive order did not provide the authority to implement new MPA's including no-fishing zones. Many of the comments clearly indicated that they were seeking marine reserves (no fishing zones) and were determining how the MPA center could help this process.
• The tribal representatives were very direct with their primary message. In polite language their message was "You had better come to each individual tribe with anything you propose because if you implement something we don't like there will be consequences."

After it was made clear that the MPA center was not authorized to create MPA's, my comments were brief. I stated that any MPA's that they added to their network should A) have defined goals and B) should be monitored adequately to determine if they are being successfully at achieving those goals. If necessary, the MPA center should be responsible for that monitoring.

Mike

Coastal Rockfish meeting in Montesano - bad news

December 8:

The news was bad for 2006 and then got worse for 2007.

To start off:
We exceeded the 2005 yelloweye harvest limit (3.5mt)coming in at 5.2mt. That requires that we prepare a more restrictive set of fishing regulations aimed at reducting that catch. It is clear that we are catching more yelloweye in shallow water than ever before and the lack of quality salmon fishing close to shore in marine areas 3 and 4 likely contributed to more fishing pressure.

Then to follow up it was learned that the new assessment of yelloweye resulted in a 1/3 drop in abundance for 2007/08 management. It is not clear what regulations will need to be put in place to address this development, but they wont be popular. There is another assessment about to be done. We can only cross our fingers and hope for better results.

Mik

IFQ meeting with Director Koenings

November 29:

I recently spent a few minutes of time with WDFW director Dr. Jeff
Koenings to communicate the RFA position in opposition to the implementation of the Alaska halibut charter IFQ program. I was appreciative that even though I walked in off the street without appointment, I was given a few minutes of time to address this issue.

Mike

Invited to speak to Southwest Washington Anglers

November 17:

I had an opportunity to speak about what RFA was doing. I had not had been speaking to the other groups as often recently, and had not been to speak to this group in over a year. It was a refreshing change of pace. Too bad they are not exactly in my back yard as I would like to visit them more often for good Columbia River fishing tips.

Mike

November WDFW commission meeting

November 19:

I attended the segment of the commission meeting that included the
debate and decision for sturgeon regulations in the Columbia River. Since this is in large part a "new commission" I was interested to get a feel for the way came to their conclusions. Overall I was impressed with their failure to simply rubber stamp the WDFW staff recommendations and their thoughtful debate of the issues. Though, they will likely continue to receive a bit of playful ribbing for exceeding their allotted 2 hour time slot by a whopping 2 & 1/2 hours.

Mike

Sno-King PSA banquet

November 10:

Myself and Clint Muns were guests at the anual dinner banquet for the
Sno-King chapter of Puget Sound Anglers. RFA Board members Diana Bone and Steve Sande were also present as they are members of the chapter.

It was a wonderfull event.

Mike

PSRE-OC meeting with WDFW Director Koenings

November 2:

(RFA Participation: Committee Chair Clint Muns, Tony Floor and Myself)

The Puget Sound Recreational Enhancement Oversight committee had a meeting with Dr Jeff Koeings to discuss the direction of the program.
There were many items of discussion but a couple were more significant.
There was agreement that the committee will proceed to investigate the potential for using more spring chinook stocks as brood for the winter blackmouth program. Spring chinook have a natural life history that is more similar to the long term rearing needed to create resident chinook. There is evidence that spring chinook stocks survive better than fall chinook in the areas of the program where we have used them. They are also historically better biters.
The committee will also begin work on a large project having to due with setting goals for recreational fisheries in Washington. We are expected to help prepare a five year plan for fisheries in Washington State that will eventually circulate through all the advisory groups for their input.

Mike

Crab Summit 3

October 26:

A group of sport fishing advocates representing various local
organizations came together to discuss continued strategy to improve Puget Sound crab fisheries. RFA representatives will be drafting a document based upon the results of the discussion. Expect the final draft to
be available to the public in the coming weeks.

Mike

Political event for Rep Pearson

October 24:

Corey and I attended mid-term event for Rep Kirk Pearson in Monroe. Kirk continues to be an advocate for proper management of our natural resources and the economic benefit it creates.

Mike

Clunt Muns honored at NSIA Banquet

October 22nd:

RFA Vice chair Clint Muns received the "foot solder of the year award" tonight at the Northwest Sportfishing Association banquet. Congratulations to
Clint. No body is more deserving of this award.

Mike