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The scope of the practice is extensive. Some
while ago, the Native American's left large numbers of Kings to rot on the beach
at Issaquah State Park. Pictures were taken, presented to the newspapers
to encourage public outrage, but were rejected as something the press did not
want to get into. In my bait fishing days, several times I stopped in
Tuholla (sp.) on the Indian Reservation at the mouth of the Quinnalt, and
purchased eggs for steelheading. There were always foreign buyers there
purchasing large amounts of roe. I have also seen some incredible abuses
from sportfishing interests in Canada and Alaska. Roe creates a market
when it is not economically practical to net fish.
To stop it, the $$ incentives will need to be
removed. Another example of the evils created by the God Almighty
dollar.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, December 09, 2000 7:50
PM
Subject: Fw: Alert: Commercial Harvest
for Chum Eggs
Thought this might be of interest & there's still some
time left for input- Bill Hamilton
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2000 5:54 PM
Subject: Alert: Commercial Harvest for Chum Eggs
All -- I'll confess that I didn't have a clue as
to the scope of this practice. If you are as dismayed as I, you
may wish to write a letter as indicated below. -- Doug
-----Original Message-----
From: Douglas C. Schaad [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent:
Wednesday, December 06, 2000 8:29 AM
To: Douglas C. Schaad PhD
Subject:
TRIBnet Home Page
Now that facts are out, let's find use for
chum
Bob Mottram; News Tribune outdoors writer
Please
place the back of one hand against your forehead - either hand is
OK - and
repeat after me.
"Ai-yai-yai! Ain't it awful! Ain't it
awful!"
There you've got it; the typical response - virtually the only
response - of
the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in recent
years to the
institutionalized waste of chum salmon carcasses by a
commercial fishing
industry that strips the fish of eggs then throws the
carcasses away because
of lack of demand for them.
Until last
week.
Last week, the department's deputy director acknowledged publicly
that, in
spite of the waste, the fishery for eggs is far too valuable to
stop. He
said that Washington's net fishermen - tribal and nontribal - make
too much
money from the eggs for the state to simply quit producing the
hatchery fish
that contribute so much to the problem.
The deputy
director's name is Larry Peck, and you've got to give him credit
for
candor. He put the issue squarely on the table.
For years the
department, including its enforcement branch, has pretended to
be horrified
by the waste, which when perpetrated by non-Indians appears to
violate
state law. For years the agency has declared, when confronted with
the
issue by the media - but only when confronted - that it intends to find
the
perpetrators and, if they are non-Indian, intends to write them up.
For
their part the tribes, also when confronted with the issue, have
responded
with "ain't-it-awfuls" of their own. Their tribal regulations,
some of them
point out, also prohibit wastage.
But the practice continues.
If
the state truly were serious about stopping or reducing the waste, all
it
would have to do is stop or reduce its production of hatchery chum. But
it
hasn't. It continues to produce the fish knowing no market exists for
their
flesh, just for their eggs.
And, finally, Peck has candidly
stated why. A mature female chum, laden with
orange eggs, is worth a lot of
money, perhaps three times as much as a
typical coho salmon, whose flesh is
highly prized. The average netter, he
implied, would rather catch a chum
than catch a coho.
The facts are finally on the table. So let's forget
about decreasing chum
production, because it isn't going to happen. Let's
abandon the hypocrisy of
our "ain't-it-awfuls." Let's get serious, instead,
about finding viable uses
for the fishes' flesh - as fertilizer, as
hatchery fish food, as nutrients
for watersheds, as whatever else that's
useful.
And let's stop this awful practice of turning our remarkable
salmonid
heritage into useless garbage. How can we explain that to our
kids?
*
Meanwhile, the department does seem to be trying to stir
itself off
dead-stop in order to move, however tentatively, in the
direction of
addressing the issue.
It's holding three public
meetings this week to take public comment on a
series of commercial fishing
subjects, one of which is a proposal to
prohibit fishermen from removing
eggs from a fish to sell separate from the
fish.
None of the
meetings will be convenient to Pierce County people. One is
tonight in Mill
Creek, north of Seattle; another is Thursday evening in
Montesano, the
third is Friday evening in Longview.
Still, written comments may be
sent before Dec. 12 to Dick Geist, Department
of Fish and Wildlife, 600
Capitol Way N., Olympia 98501-1091. They also may
be faxed to 360-902-2949
or e-mailed to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
The
department intends to go to the Fish and Wildlife Commission in
February
with a fish-egg regulation recommendation.
*
So, why
does the department need a regulation? What's the matter with
simply
enforcing the state law against fish wastage?
Well,
plenty.
Evan Jacoby, the department's enforcement division legal
specialist, says
the wastage law isn't all it's cracked up to be. At least
not as far as
salmon are concerned.
A problem crept in when the
Legislature recodified the section of law on
fish and wildlife enforcement
in 1998. The new version makes it a gross
misdemeanor to recklessly waste
big game or to waste other fish or wildlife
worth $250 or more. It's a
simple misdemeanor to waste fish or wildlife
worth less than $250 but more
than $20.
Wasting less than $20 worth isn't against the law, and 1998
was the first
time that a monetary minimum was set. The $20 was suggested
by a lawmaker
who didn't think the state should make a criminal out of
someone who
inadvertently allowed a couple of trout, perhaps, or a duck, to
spoil,
Jacoby said.
So, how do you prosecute a commercial fishermen
who might reasonably argue
that the hundreds of salmon he discarded aren't
worth the $20?
"It's not technically correct to say those chum salmon
are worth nothing,"
Jacoby said. "But they're not worth much."
- -
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* Reach staff writer Bob Mottram at 253-597-8640,
or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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