From Wild Steelheaders United
After more than 2 years of strategy advancement and stakeholder conferences, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is accepting public comments on its Rogue-South Coast Multi-Species Conservation and Management Plan (RSP). The strategy proposes to continue harvest of wild steelhead without appropriate tracking information readily available. Furthermore, the RSP has the following imperfections:
– Does not propose to gather population level information for run size and escapement in all populations
– Does not have the capability to figure out population particular harvest rates or fishery effects to the most delicate fish stocks, such as summer season steelhead
– Depend on balancing harvest rates over numerous years instead of making sure that harvest rates do not surpass optimums in any given year
– Does not approximate catch and release death and include it in harvest numbers
– Utilizes juvenile abundance and/or existence for forecasting run sizes
These problems will not permit supervisors to properly examine the population characteristics of wild steelhead and continued wild harvest under these situations might have enduring, unfavorable influence on south coast salmonid populations. For this factor, we can not support a structure that permits wild harvest in the lack of appropriate information.
This option will assist guarantee we do not trade short-term chance for the long-lasting health of wild steelhead.
The strategy likewise proposes numerous modifications to hatchery management in the South Coast area too. ODFW has actually particularly requested feedback on the following actions which did not reach agreement in the stakeholder procedure.
– Boost the circulation of hatchery steelhead in the Rogue by including an extra off-station release website in a wild steelhead generating tributary
– A 25% boost in the variety of hatchery coho smolts launched in the Rogue
– Development of 2 Mixed Focus locations in Euchre Creek and the Winchuck River which would leave the door open for brand-new hatchery programs
– A proposed 10% objective for PHOS in all populations
These programs would have a range of results or threats on wild steelhead and coho, you can learn more here.
WHAT WE REQUIREMENT FROM YOU:
Please click here to tell ODFW to select Alternative A (Catch and Release) under the Winter Season Steelhead Fishing Structure and decrease threat to wild steelhead. Remarks are due by 11:59 PM on August 1, 2021.
Thank you for doing something about it on behalf of wild steelhead!
Seriously,
Dean Finnerty, Sophia Kaelke, and the Wild Steelheaders United group at Trout Unlimited
