Watching Our Water Ways

Selective fishing is expected to increase angler time on Puget Sound

Details are still being compiled for Puget Salmon salmon fishing this summer and fall, but it appears that anglers will get some additional time on the water thanks to mark-selective fishing.

In years past, we reporters received a flood of regulatory documents from the Washington Department of Natural Resources on the night that work was completed at the six-day Pacific Fishery Management Council meeting.

But in the rush to get the rules out the door, those compiling the information often got certain details wrong, and I often noticed discrepancies and typographical errors because of the amount of information being shuffled around.

Last year, WDFW officials decided they would take another couple of days to double-check the information to avoid confusion at the outset.

The PFMC finalized the regulations yesterday. As far as I can tell, the story I wrote for Tuesday’s Kitsap Sun still holds up, but I’ll admit it was not very detailed.

Neither is the news release sent out last night by WDFW, but it covers a little more ground than my story.

A separate news release from the PFMC (PDF 135 kb) rightfully focuses on fishing off the California coast, which will be in the toilet again this year, as salmon managers try to save a declining run of chinook in the Sacramento River:

“For the second year in a row, the Pacific Fishery Management Council today closed commercial and most recreational salmon fisheries off the coast of California in response to the collapse of Sacramento River fall Chinook,” the news release states.

Last year, the federal government declared the California fishery a disaster, and Congress appropriated $170 million in aid.

I’ll let you know as soon as more details regarding Puget Sound come out.

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Tags: Pacific Fishery Management Council, Salmon fishing, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am and is filed under Fishing interests, Salmon, Tribes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.