Counting Steelhead Comes with Lots of Error: But it Took the Approach Created by an 18th Century Minister Named Thomas Bayes to Help Us Better Appreciate Those Errors
Wild Steelhead Coalition Science Advisor, Guy Fleischer, has thoughts on how some level of uncertainty is unavoidable and a natural characteristic of fisheries modeling, and what is needed to better understand steelhead run forecasts. If you are ready to take the plunge with Fleischer and wade deep into what affects forecast model performance, keep this in mind: without reliable forecasts and the underlying data needed to construct and explain them, policy makers are more challenged to defend responsible fisheries management.
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South Prairie Creek: A Puget Sound Dairy Farm is Restored to Steelhead and Salmon Habitat
After years of planning, fundraising and engineering, last summer the bulldozers and excavators finally arrived at the site of a former dairy farm along a half mile stretch of South Prairie Creek, a tributary of Washington’s Puyallup River watershed in South Puget Sound. Over the course of eight months, the crews would remove nine buildings and their foundations, install a new bridge over a spring creek tributary, move nearly 20,000 cubic yards of earth, dig a 2600 foot long side channel, install 118 engineered log structures built using over 4600 pieces of wood, add tons of gravel and rock to the logjams, and plant thousands of native saplings and plants in the restored riparian zone along the creek.
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ODFW's Plan to Keep Killing Wild Steelhead on the South Coast Goes in Front of Oregon's Commission
At their October 15 meeting, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission will hear a presentation from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff on their updated Rogue - South Coast Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (RSP).
The fact is, the RSP is an inadequate plan to recover wild steelhead and should be sent back to the drawing board by Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission. It proposes to continue harvesting wild steelhead even though ODFW doesn’t know how many adult fish are returning each year, if those populations are truly stable, or even how many are being killed or impacted by anglers. Harvesting wild steelhead requires a very, very high bar to ensure it is sustainable and not contributing to population declines and excessive losses of diversity. This plan fails to meet that reasonable standard.
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What Path Are We Going to Take?
A lot of attention has fallen on the dismal return of wild steelhead this year in the Columbia/Snake River Basin. Rightfully so. As of now, it is shaping up to be the worst steelhead run on record since counting at Bonneville Dam began 83 years ago.
It’s difficult to get your head around what the steelhead run was like on the Columbia prior to the canneries cranking up, timber splash dam operations scoured spawning beds in the tributaries, hydropower dam construction, and doubling down on hatcheries all combined to seal the current fate of this extraordinary river. And now a warm North Pacific Ocean filled with ridiculous numbers of hatchery pink salmon is diminishing steelhead survival. The Columbia/Snake had the largest return of wild steelhead on the planet and its B-run summer steelhead were the largest around in terms of size, even making the legendary Skeena fish pale in comparison. Today we are fishing over the last remnants of this greatness and most of the watershed is impounded into a series of lakes or blocked completely. Many of the wild steelhead in the basin have been listed as Threatened on the Endangered Species List.
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Tell ODFW: Stop the Harvest of Wild Steelhead on Oregon’s South Coast Until Accurate Population Counts are Established
Public Comments are Due August 1st: Send your letter Today!
In recent years, local anglers have submitted multiple petitions asking the Department to protect the South Coast’s wild steelhead from harvest when it became clear the ODFW does not know how many wild steelhead are returning each winter, or how many are being harvested, or how many are being caught and released, or how many are successfully spawning in Southern Oregon’s watersheds.
Unfortunately, this new management plan fails to adequately establish the appropriate monitoring protocols required to truly take stock of wild steelhead populations and angling impacts on Oregon’s beautiful South Coast rivers.
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Wild Steelhead Science: 2021 Graduate Scholarship
As a part of our commitment to science-based advocacy and fishery management, the Wild Steelhead Coalition funds new research into wild steelhead whenever possible. This can take many forms, and has often involved partnerships with other conservation organizations and government agencies. Over the years, we’ve also had the privilege of offering financial support to several graduate students doing work around wild steelhead life histories, habitat, and recovery. This year we are pleased to be supporting a project by Lauren Diaz, a PhD student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences at Oregon State University, with a $2500 scholarship.
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Closed Door Steelhead Meetings and More Gill Nets in the Columbia: The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Commercial Agenda
It is a universal truth that anglers would rather be out on our favorite waters rather than spending time fighting about regulations or trying to keep up with the politics and bureaucracy of managing our fisheries. Ideally, anglers could trust our managers and public officials to prioritize the long-term health and recovery of our wild steelhead and salmon runs and make the right decisions to share these public resources fairly with all Washington residents.
Unfortunately for Washington anglers, we don’t have that luxury. We must pay careful attention because our current Fish and Wildlife Commission seems committed to favoring over-exploitation and commercial interests rather than honoring their mandate to “preserve, protect, perpetuate, and manage” fisheries for the entire public.
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Steelhead on the Brink: OP Steelhead in Fly Fisherman Magazine
As the winter steelhead season got underway on Washington's coast and Olympic Peninsula, the editors of Fly Fisherman Magazine reached out to the Wild Steelhead Coalition with an opportunity to write an article about the current state of steelhead on the iconic rivers of the OP and the need for new conservation-focused angling rules to protect, and hopefully begin to rebuild, fragile stocks of wild fish after years of declining numbers.
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New Evidence that Hatchery Practices Trigger Changes in Steelhead by Altering Gene Expression
A recently published study by leading researchers at Washington State University (WSU) details important new insights into the negative physical effects of raising steelhead in hatcheries. While many of these effects are already known, the study provides additional perspectives on how these changes occur and their corrosive intergenerational impacts when the domesticated fish go on to breed with wild steelhead. The research compared fish raised at hatcheries on the Methow and Columbia Rivers with their wild counterparts.
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A Vision of Abundance for Washington Coast and Olympic Peninsula Wild Steelhead
This season's actions represent a recognition that these wild steelhead runs are truly imperiled, and an important start to transforming the management paradigm on Washington’s coast. Preventing the collapse of our wild steelhead populations is the immediate priority, but long-term, sustainable wild steelhead fisheries will require comprehensive, conservation-focused policy to restore their abundance. As steelhead anglers and advocates for these rivers, we should accept nothing less.
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An Unprecedented Opportunity to Revive the Snake River
For decades, our community has been fighting vigorously to breach the Snake River dams and restore what was once one of the greatest steelhead and salmon runs on the planet. In recent years, the movement to “Free the Snake” has gained substantial traction, but limited political leadership has stymied this effort. However, at long last the prospects of freeing the Snake have dramatically improved thanks to Congressman Mike Simpson, who this week released a comprehensive proposal to breach the Snake River dams and restore this iconic watershed.
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Spring on the Skagit and Sauk: Low Projected Steelhead Numbers Allow a Limited 2021 Season
This week the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WFDFW) announced the Skagit and Sauk rivers catch-and-release wild steelhead season will reopen this spring. The popular fishery remained closed last year due to low projected fish returns. The season will run from February 1st through April 13th and be operated under conservation measures, such as only fishing four days a week, to reduce anglers’ impact on struggling wild steelhead runs.
News of the upcoming spring 2021 catch-and-release steelhead season has travelled fast. The announcement has been met with a mix of celebration and concern across the angling community, especially in light of recent emergency rule changes affecting Washington’s coastal rivers, and how they could shift angling pressure to the Skagit.
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Oceans of Change: Recent Conditions in the North Pacific Are Dramatically Affecting Steelhead Survival
"The Times They Are A-Changin’ " – Bob Dylan
By Guy Fleischer, WSC Science Advisor
Steelhead populations on the West Coast are affected by what scientists often call the “four H’s”: Habitat degradation, Hatchery influence, Harvest, and Hydropower dams. But there is another critical element to their survival: the High Seas. Historically, most of our attention has been drawn to those issues which are mostly within plain sight and, for many anglers and conservationists, this has meant an intense focus on the freshwater portion of steelhead life cycles. But now, because of recent dramatic declines in survival, we need to pay attention to this key component beyond our immediate gaze, beyond that deep pool or run we are planning to fish. We need to think ‘salt’, because, without the Pacific Ocean, steelhead are, well, not steelhead.
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Turning the Page on 2020: An End of the Year Note from WSC Board Chair Greg Topf
There is no way to sugarcoat it, 2020 has been a brutal year for everyone, and to be honest it feels like the gift that keeps on taking. As tough as it has been for humanity, it has also been another rough year for wild steelhead, which continue to slip ever closer to extinction. The declining runs on the Olympic Peninsula, which just ignited early closures and some much-needed rule changes to reduce the angling community’s collective impact, are yet another powerful and harsh reminder of the tightrope we are walking when it comes to protecting wild steelhead while maintaining our ability to chase them.
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Protecting Wild Fish from Poaching on the Olympic Peninsula: WSC’s Ongoing Support of WDFW Law Enforcement
WDFW Law Enforcement Officers working on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula face a daunting landscape of remote wilderness, dense forests, and wild rivers. There are usually only a half dozen of them to cover all of Jefferson and Clallam Counties (an area of 4800 square miles), hundreds of miles of rivers stretching from the southern end of Hood Canal and wrapping all the way around to the Quinault River, and a thousand additional square miles of saltwater jurisdiction off the coastline.
The Officers are responsible for monitoring activity and enforcing the laws governing freshwater and saltwater sport and commercial fisheries, hunting seasons, some environmental permits, tracking commercial fish and shellfish sales and sourcing for restaurants and markets, illegal logging, orca sightseeing boats, and camping where it isn’t allowed.
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A Change of Course: Washington Coast and Olympic Peninsula Winter Steelhead Season Rules Finalized
After weeks of public debate and anxiety within the steelhead angling community, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) fishery managers have announced their emergency conservation rules for the upcoming winter steelhead season on Coastal and Olympic Peninsula rivers.
While partial and/or complete sportfishing closures were considered, the department is proceeding with a plan that bans fishing from boats and the use of bait, requires the use of single-point barbless hooks, and bans rainbow trout retention to protect juvenile steelhead. Seasons will close a few weeks earlier than previous years, with some variability among watersheds. These new regulations take effect on Monday, December 14 and run until further notice.
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Winter on the Coast: Upcoming Options for Winter Steelhead on Washington’s Coastal Rivers
In an online meeting on Tuesday evening, Washington anglers heard updates from state fishery managers on projected wild winter steelhead run numbers and potential regulatory options for the upcoming winter angling season on Washington’s coastal rivers.
Broadly speaking, the news continues to be grim. Years of population declines, exacerbated by recent downturns in ocean productivity and survival, have continued. With a few notable exceptions, steelhead numbers are struggling across coastal watersheds. Anglers can, and should, expect less opportunity to fish on these rivers during the Winter and Spring of 2021.
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Speak up to Protect the Chehalis River’s Wild Steelhead
The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers’ recent environmental review makes it even clearer that now is not the time to build a new dam on the Chehalis River. Instead, we must invest in smart, forward-thinking alternatives that can accomplish the dual goals of reducing flood impacts and restoring the basin’s critical aquatic ecosystems. Please take action today and help create a brighter future in the Chehalis Basin by telling the Army Corps to keep the Chehalis River flowing free!
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The Gillnets Gotta Go!
Recently, the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to approve a misguided plan to expand gillnetting on the Columbia River. The Wild Steelhead Coalition strongly opposes this plan and is working with our partners in the fish conservation and angling communities to undo the Commission’s preposterous decision to greenlight an expansion of this destructive commercial fishing practice, which will further endanger ESA-listed salmon and steelhead.
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The Quicksilver Portfolio: WSC Summary and Observations of the PSSAG Plan to Recover Steelhead in Puget Sound
For the last three years, the WSC has been involved in an intense process as members of the Puget Sound Steelhead Advisory Group (PSSAG) to build practical consensus around a path forward for steelhead management in Puget Sound. Recently, PSSAG released the “Quicksilver: Restoring Puget Sound Steelhead & Fisheries” report, which is the product of this years-long effort. Take a minute to check out the WSC’s summary of this important initiative.
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