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F&G considering opening steelhead harvest season |
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October 3, 2017 |
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By Roger Phillips
IDFG Public Information Specialist
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on October 2
postponed a decision on a staff proposal to
reopen hatchery steelhead harvest with reduced
bag limits in order to gather public comment.
The commission plans to vote on October 13, and
Fish and Game will take comment on the proposals
through October 10.
Steelhead fishing is currently open, but for
catch-and-release fishing only.
In August, Fish and Game closed the fall
steelhead harvest because the run, which was
already forecasted to be lower than average, was
returning smaller and/or later than expected.
At the time, fish managers said they would
closely monitor the run and add restrictions, or
request the commission to restore harvest, if
hatchery needs would be met and additional
hatchery fish were available. Through September,
steelhead numbers steadily improved.
“Steelhead returns have rebounded and are now
tracking along with the preseason forecast with
over 113,000 expected to cross Bonneville Dam on
the Columbia River,” said Lance Hebdon,
anadromous fish manager for Fish and Game.
“Returns projected to Idaho based on known Idaho
fish passing Bonneville Dam are now enough to
provide a harvest of hatchery steelhead, but
with smaller bag limits.”
The proposal is to reduce the traditional daily
bag limit from three to two in the Snake and
Salmon rivers, with additional restrictions in
the Clearwater and lower Snake limiting harvest
to two steelhead less than 28 inches. The size
restriction protects the larger “B-run”
steelhead that are still not abundant enough to
provide harvest without risking overharvesting
fish needed to replenish hatcheries.
Managers will continue to evaluate steelhead
returns over Bonneville Dam and fish returning
to Idaho.
Hebdon estimates about 22,000 hatchery steelhead
above broodstock needs are destined for Idaho
rivers. Most of those fish have already been
counted at Bonneville Dam. The hatchery fish are
produced as mitigation for lost fishing
opportunity associated with federal and Idaho
Power dams in the basin.
Managers also said wild fish, which cannot be
harvested, will remain protected. While wild
fish numbers are low this year, particularly the
Clearwater River’s B-run fish, managers pointed
out that Idaho had low wild returns in the past
when there were abundant hatchery returns.
Idaho's wild steelhead returns were as low or
lower than this year as late as 2007-08. But
wild returns quickly rebounded after river and
ocean conditions improved.
“Idaho takes a conservative approach to managing
wild steelhead” Hebdon said. “We don’t allow any
harvest of wild steelhead. About 85 percent of
the wild steelhead habitat in Idaho is closed to
all steelhead fishing, so the only impact to
wild steelhead is associated with
catch-and-release handling incidental to both
catch-and-release and harvest fisheries
targeting hatchery fish.
“Harvesting hatchery fish and releasing wild
fish has proven to be an effective conservation
tool," Hebdon added. "We will continue to
monitor wild steelhead populations in Idaho and
are confident that the implementation of Idaho’s
steelhead sport fisheries are not a risk to the
goal of rebuilding wild steelhead populations."
He noted that Idaho has had essentially the same
steelhead fishing rules since the 1990s with
occasional changes to account for smaller
returns, like this year’s.
Here's the
complete proposal for steelhead
harvest and more detailed information.
Anglers can comment on the proposal via email or
by phone to their Regional Fishery Manager:
* Joe DuPont, Clearwater Region Fishery Manager,
joe.dupont@idfg.idaho.gov, (208) 799-5010
* Greg Schoby, Salmon Region Fishery Manager,
greg.schoby@idfg.idaho.gov, (208) 756-2271
* Dale Allen, Southwest Region (McCall) Fishery Manager,
dale.allen@idfg.idaho.gov, (208) 634-8137 |
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