(image from: http://www.montereyfish.com/pages/methods/p_seining.html)
New salmon fishery will test seine gear
Switch away from gillnets is supposed to make it easier to separate wild and hatchery fish
COLUMBIA RIVER — A small fleet of purse and beach seine-equipped boats is set to begin fishing the Lower Columbia River, from Buoy 10 to Beacon Rock, in August as part of a newly created research fishery.
However, after several years of contracting with fishers to test this gear outside of a commercial fishery setting, Oregon and Washington’s departments of fish and wildlife say the only “reasonable” release mortality rates they’ve seen for the seine-caught fish were for steelhead.
With plans to phase out gill nets on the Columbia River, the switch to seines is meant to lessen impacts on wild-spawning salmon protected by the Endangered Species Act. Hatchery salmon are marked by removing a small fin and may be harvested by fishermen, while unmarked salmon are supposed to be returned to the river unharmed.
But according to numbers crunched by the states’ technical advisory group, the U.S. v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), only 8.3 percent of steelhead died after being caught in beach seines and released, but 34.3 percent of Chinook salmon and 38.4 percent of coho caught in the same nets died.
“If those numbers are what we’re faced with, that’s pretty high,” said Ron Roler, of WDFW. “That’s pretty difficult to work with.”
Purse seine mortality was only slightly better with 3.3 percent steelhead mortality, 22.5 percent Chinook mortality and 28.9 percent coho mortality.
“I think the state guys would have been much happier if we were seeing Chinook and coho release mortality rates in the same neighborhood of less than 10 percent,” said Stuart Ellis, of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, and chairman of TAC.
Currently, gillnet fishers in the small spring selective fishery report 14.7 percent release mortality rates for tangle net-caught Chinook and 40 percent mortality for large mesh-caught Chinook, said Jim Wells, an Astoria-based commercial fisherman and president of Salmon For All.
“But our catch is very small,” he said to explain the rates.
Beach seines are hauled up onto a shoreline and were a prime feature of the internationally famous horse-seine fishery that once made West Sand Island some of the most desirable real estate on the West Coast. Purse seines — so called because their opening is drawn up and closed like a string purse trapping fish inside — are operated from a fishing vessel. But many gillnet boats are unsuited for adaptation to seining equipment.
A new fishery
Last week, the Oregon and Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife used a lottery system to select 10 fishers to participate in the research fishery. Though fishers can opt out of the program, the departments hope to have four purse seine boats and six beach seine boats operating on the river in August and September.
Fishers can sell what they catch, but the fish they land won’t carve a chunk out of the catchable fish available to the regular fleet. When the research boats kill wild fish protected under the Endangered Species Act in the normal course of fishing operations, those “impacts” won’t come from the regular commercial fleet. Instead, they will be taken as research impacts. In general, only 2 percent of harvested fish may be from among ESA-protected runs.
Also, before a boat can go out and fish on the days and during the times the departments announce, it must have a department observer on board.
“It’s under the microscope,” Roler said. “Even though it’s open, it won’t be a free-for-all.”
Since 2009 and 2010, the states have contracted with individual fishermen to use seines and fish traps: “alternative commercial fishing gear.” Though such gear has been used in the past, it is currently illegal to use seines on the Columbia River outside of the states’ program. But as Oregon’s Gov. John Kitzhaber pushed to phase out the use of gillnets on the main stem of the Columbia River, this alternative gear is seen as the likely future for commercial fishers.
Which is worrisome to fishers who have participated in the states’ program since the beginning, or who have yet to try the gear at all.
The program is working under “adaptive management,” which means, says Roler, that if the fishery isn’t working the way it’s set up, “you adapt and make changes to make it work.”
But fishers wonder what the plan will be if it turns out the fishery doesn’t work at all. What if release mortality rates remain too high?
“I don’t know,” Roler said. “That’s something the Fish and Wildlife Commission would have to figure out.”
Seines versus gillnets
Long-time local fisherman Steve Gray and other fishers believe the push toward seine gear and away from gillnets is political, driven by sports fishing interests, and will not actually help conserve protected fish. And, given the mortality rates related to seining, they argue that gillnets are better at helping fishers avoid particular fish.
With gillnets, fishers can size their gear by 1/4 of an inch and even 1/8 of an inch, Gray said. This allows targeting of specific species, runs and ages of fish. In recent years, gillnetters have been required to have recovery boxes on board, in which wild salmon that are netted may regain strength before being returned to the river.
Gray also argues that switching to seine gear could disrupt sports fisheries, unnecessarily pitting sports and commercial fishers against each other. Over the years, gillnet fishers have worked to fish at times and in areas that don’t conflict as much with sports fishers, he said.
Seining is a daytime activity, Roler agreed, and seiners would have to use some of the same beaches and areas favored by sports fishermen.
“There will probably have to be some closures,” he said. But, he added, that’s why they’re starting small, with just 10 fishers, rather than the estimated 170 active licenses for gillnet fishers on the Columbia River.
“If you jump right into it with a full fleet, you’re learning on the fly,” Roler said. “With this, we can take steps and learn what we need to do by having a smaller fishery. There’s so much data to collect.”
Costs of conversion
Gray also believes the seines, which require a new set of gear and at least a three-person crew, could kick fishers with fewer resources, or older fishers who may not be able to keep up physically with the heavy seine gear, out of the fishing business entirely.
Gray’s son, Lance Gray, is one of the fishers selected for the research fishery. When he returns from fishing in Alaska and purchases a permit for the fishery, he will likely use beach seines.
Lance Gray has participated in the program from the beginning, reasoning, his father said, “At least I can go look at it, try it and learn what there is to learn.”
Still, the family has other boats and can turn to those if the seine experiment is not profitable. They are lucky, Steve Gray said. Other fishers may not have that option.
It’s going to be expensive for everyone, Ellis said, adding, “It’s kind of a big deal to start a fishery with such intensive monitoring.”
To provide monitoring, Ann Stephenson of WDFW said Washington will hire six scientific technicians; Oregon will hire three.
It is unlikely the technicians will be full-time, but they could make $13.94 to $18.02 an hour depending on experience and qualifications. The states will also have to pay for any training and have already paid for the contracts with fishers in past years and for three years worth of studies to examine mortality rates and feasibility, Stephenson said.
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