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nathanbforrest45
06-30-2015, 12:38 PM
Just read an article in a fly fishing magazine (I don't remember which, either Fly Fisherman or Fly Rod and Reel) regarding the current state of steelhead salmon in the Hoh River. It seems that in 1920 there were almost 60,000 wild steelhead in the river. Today the population is down to between 3500 and 5000 or less than 10 percent and at the current rate the steelhead salmon will be gone from the Hoh river completely in the next 20 years. What is causing this rapid decline in fish? Its not global warming. Its not industrial waste being dumped into the river. Its not fly fisherman taking too many fish. It is man made however. In 1972 a Federal judge ruled that Native Americans living on the treaty reservations on the Hoh would be allowed to take as many fish as they wished. Everyone else was limited to one fish per year taken on a fly rod using artificial lures (i.e. flies). The Native Americans could and do use gill netting and taking a tremendous number of fish from the river. They are selling this fish as animal food for as little as $1.90 per lb. So, in 20 years all the fish will be gone and the "subsistence" fisherman will be looking to the Federal government for handouts.

So much for Native Americans having such high regards for Mother Earth.

sachem
06-30-2015, 12:51 PM
That's not good.

Captain Obvious
06-30-2015, 01:00 PM
It's all lies without substantive citations.

nathanbforrest45
06-30-2015, 01:03 PM
That's not good.

No it isn't because at this point there is nothing anyone can do to stop them. The Steelhead will not disappear completely as they do thrive in other waters as well (The Copper River for example) and they do have "farm raised Steelheads but wild Steelheads will soon be a thing of the past in Washington State

By the way, Copper River Salmon sells for upwards of $25.00 per lb. Wild caught salmon is much much more flavorful than farm raised.

http://www.fishex.com/seafood/salmon/copper-river-salmon.html

As an aside, the most protective of fish are not the so called environmentalist but the fisherman themselves. Many of us belong to organizations dedicated to protecting the species (I belong to Trout Unlimited North Carolina Wildlife Federation's NC's CAMO Commission) because we know if we catch all the fish today or shoot all the ducks today there will be none tomorrow.

nathanbforrest45
06-30-2015, 01:04 PM
It's all lies without substantive citations.

Citations taste like cardboard and make you shi t the bed.

nathanbforrest45
06-30-2015, 01:08 PM
http://www.wildsteelheadcoalition.org/Repository/HohRiver-DickBurge

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20140627/NEWS/306279985

Tahuyaman
07-07-2015, 11:38 PM
Just read an article in a fly fishing magazine (I don't remember which, either Fly Fisherman or Fly Rod and Reel) regarding the current state of steelhead salmon in the Hoh River. .

If they talked about "Steelhead Salmon", they don't know what they are talking about. A steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout. Pound for pound, no fish fights harder than a Steelhead.

The Hoh river population declined years ago. This is nothing new. The tribal guys fished them nearly to the point of oblivion. Tribal fisherman have basically no season and no limit. They don't give a shit about fishing responsibly. Tribal fishing rights in the northwest is something nobody has the guts to address.

go visit any reservation in Western Washington. You will see that they have the most beautiful ocean front property in the state and it looks like Haiti. These people are the most filthy and nasty people currently walking planet earth. The stereo type fits them to a tee. It's disgusting.

I once rented a small one bedroom beach cottage next to my house to one of them. Within the first week of moving in, he had four cars up on blocks in the driveway. My neighbors almost killed me for renting to him. He did leave when I kicked him out though.

Tahuyaman
07-08-2015, 12:21 AM
The decline in the population of salmon, steelhead, crab, shrimp, clams, scallops, the various spieces of cod and any other sea life you can imagine in the state of Washington is a direct reflection upon tribal fisherman.

They kill millions of salmon each year just for the eggs. They throw the dead carcasses back into the water. They pot millions of shrimp and let them rot on the beach just because they can. Same with crabs and clams.

They have fished out several species of sea life which were plentiful when I was a kid. Just because they can.

Peter1469
07-08-2015, 02:36 AM
Many American Indian tribes caused environmental havoc.

PolWatch
07-08-2015, 06:23 AM
I don't suppose anyone wants to discuss the early salmon canning facilities in the area.....the ones that nearly destroyed the species they were canning? The same ones that did not allow the natives of the area to fish the areas at all? Why do you think the laws are now so screwy about who can take the fish?

I agree that allowing anyone to take a species with no regard to sustainability is wrong. I also have to acknowledge who taught the technique & caused the problem in the first place.

'Immediate efforts to resolve the problems during these periods were intermediate and poorly conceived, in part because the problems were not fully understood. The problems are complex, and touch upon the issues of Native American rights, the livelihood of commercial fishermen, and the hydroelectric needs of the Pacific Northwest. Maintaining the salmon and balancing the conflicting needs of the different peoples of the region remains one of the core social and economic controversies in the Pacific Northwest.'

http://content.lib.washington.edu/salmonweb/

Tahuyaman
07-08-2015, 09:23 PM
The fact is,the salmon population was stable until the tribal fishing rights decision in the mid 1970's. It took just a couple of years for them to decimate the resource.