We have had some huge losses in the fishing community. Jim Brauch from the Everett Salmon and Steelhead PSA club has recently passed way. Jim was one of the original members of this club and very active in fisheries. He was one of the leaders in promoting kids fishing and we hope that this continues with the great people Jim worked with. Another loss is Susan Krein, wife of Gary Krein of All Star Fishing Charters. These are devastation losses so please keep their families in your prayers.   

We were able to dodge a big bullet this year on our halibut quota for our Area 2A, which consists of Washington, Oregon, California. The International Pacific halibut Commission had recommended a 750,000 pound quota for our region, down from 960,000 pounds from 2014. There are serious concerns about overharvest still happening in Alaska. Down here we are just a fraction of the entire catch on the West Coast. Normally about 1.8% is all we are taking. Our seasons will be similar to last years inside and the ocean.

The North of Falcon Salmon season setting process is under way where we divide up the salmon from north of Cape Falcon, Oregon. Our PSA advisors are the table and hopefully the impacts on some of the fish stocks are not in trouble as much as they were last year. The Lake Washington Chinook stocks were the driver last year.

We have had some bills going this legislative session that have to do with fishing. We had one instituted by Senator Pearson labeled as SB 5818. This bill would cut state funding to organizations that receive grants or funding from the  state that sue the state on hatchery issues.  We had one organization sue WDFW to shut down our hatcheries.

There were two other bills that were to enhance recreational fishing. Senate Bill 5844 and House Bill 1660. Senate Bill 5844 got a hearing but did not make it out of committee. House Bill 1660 never received a hearing. So this session they did not happen and both need to make it to move forward. Two other bills are: One is to change the structure of the WDFW Commission. We are against this as we feel like we have full representation across the board. the other is for thetribes to only answer to the governor. I don't believe wither of these went anywhere at the time of writing this.

We have a giant issue at hand that is developing. NOAA is in the process of building the recovery plan for our Puget Sound ESA listed rockfish. Yelloweye, Bocaccio, and Canary rockfish have been listed as "Endangered." What does this mean for you if you fish for salmon? Not Good! The recommendation is that Marine Protected Areas are built to protect these fish. These are NO fishing zones. These are going to be areas that have structure or vertical reliefs (steep walls) to be closed to protect these rockfish. We all know that Chinook like structure too so somebody is going to lose their fishing grounds. By law, when a fish is ESA listed, they have three years to list the critical habitat. So going forward, critical habitat could be designated up to 50% of the Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, and the Eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca. Of that 50%, 20-30% of it could be designated as MPAs/fishing closures. This equates to 10-15% of the Puget Sound of probably the best fishing areas.

If you think of these rockfish as deepwater fish and should not bother your fishing, think again. These deepwater MPAs are going to come up into the shallow water as the younger fish start their life in shallower water.  So there will be full coverage on these no fishing zones. PSA is the only fishing organization at the table. The problem with the MPAs are that they are prejudiced to all but the tribes. We have a treaty with the tribes to keep them in fish and game. They have U&As or "Usual and Accustomed Areas,"  that are designated as their fishing areas. If we think that they are going to sign off their treaty rights, we need to think again. We always have wishful thinking, but not reality. If you fish the ocean, you see the tribes commercial fishing in the Yelloweye Conservation Zone or C Closure all of the time. We are not allowed to bottom fish in them but they are. So what good are they? MPAs cannot work if any one fishes them.

We have buying and giving away fish descenders to the public. This will be our third year doing so.  We are going to have the more expensive Seaqualizers in the hands of every Charter boat in Washington state this year. Some of the hardcore private recreational boats will be getting some too. By the time you read this we will have given over 1000 Shelton Fish Descenders. We should have about 300+ Seaqualizers handed out this year too. These fish descenders are going to be our saving grace. This is going to be our answer to recovery. Salmon fishing is told to us as the biggest impact on Yelloweye. We all know none of us catch YE when fishing for salmon.

NOAA's Rockfish Recovery Team will be submitting their recommendation within the next two months on how to recover these fish. We will be letting everyone know what the findings are and that is when we are going to need to comment on our thoughts or suggestions. We want no management based on hope. We only want true science used and reality based management. There are MPAs all around Vancouver Island and in the 6 years they have been implemented, they have shown no change, positive or negative. This is not a lot of time to see if they work. We have ideas we are working on with NOAA/NMFS to recover these fish and to not impact our fishing we now have. We will keep you posted.

I will be meeting with Norm Dicks, some of the tribes, CCA, Fish NW, and other various fisheries players again to see what we can do to get our HGMPs reviewed and accepted, to get our hatcheries pumping out more fish.  

Come and learn how to fish from our skilled members at a local chapter. We are the true conservationists in Washington that use common sense to deal with our fisheries. Join your local chapter today and be part of the solution. We understand today’s problems and are working together for a better tomorrow. www.pugetsoundanglers.org