June 13, 2023
Salmon fishing suspended in Marine Area 11
Action: Closes to all salmon fishing.
Well, what can we say folks? We made it 8 days this year instead of 3 days in 2022…The real issue was the number of unmarked chinook still swimming around the area.
These could be a mix of salmon headed anywhere, but most likely were the South Sound Spring chinook runs headed for the White River or Minter hatcheries.
Hopefully, you got an opportunity to get out and enjoy fishing for chinook in local waters! Now, we have to wait a couple of weeks+ for the next time Marine Area 11 opens on July 1st.
If you are desperate to get out still, drop down to Marine Area 13 and work the same kind of water off of Fox Island…you never know!
Here’s quick video of my chinook bite on a jig near Point Defiance / Clay Banks:
Official WDFW news release below:
WDFW Fishing Rule Change: Salmon fishing suspended in Marine Area 11
Effective date: June 15-30, 2023.
Species affected: All salmon.
Location: Marine Area 11 (Tacoma-Vashon Island).
Reason for action: Salmon fishing is being suspended for the rest of June because unmarked encounter limit has been reached. The current estimate of Chinook harvest through June 11 is 988 of the total harvest quota of 1,423 (69%); 1,036 of the total unmarked encounter limit of 901 (115%); and 1,130 of the total sublegal encounter limit of 1,697 (67%) set during the 2023 North of Falcon season setting process.
Additional Information: This Fishing Rule Change does not affect the July 1 through Sept. 30 salmon fishery, which will continue as planned.
Year-round piers (Dash Point Dock, Des Moines Pier, Les Davis Pier, Point Defiance Boathouse Dock, and Redondo Pier) remain open as listed in the Washington Sport Fishing Rules pamphlet.
Information contact: Fish Program, 360-902-2700.
Fishers must have a current Washington fishing license, appropriate to the fishery. Check the WDFW “Fishing in Washington” rules pamphlet (http://maillists.dfw.wa.gov/t/853861/9401563/16/3803/ )for details on fishing seasons and regulations. Fishing rules are subject to change. Check the WDFW Fishing hotline for the latest rule information at (360) 902-2500, press 2 for recreational rules. For the Shellfish Rule Change hotline call (360)796-3215 or toll free 1-866-880-5431.
So what your saying is “we got shut down for catching hatchery fish that were not fin clipped that came from the muks on the white river and minter creek hatcheries.”
Yes, that’s basically correct.
I don’t know how anyone can claim they own a fish. That would be like saying I own the ducks and geese that land on my property. If you want more fish then stop the netting in the mouth of the rivers. Quit letting them run a net half way across on one side and a family member run half across on the other side. How is a fish able to get up river if he has to run a goblet of nets…….
No the number of wild Chinook has been reached. We need to make sure that the wild fish make it to spawn to keep the run alive.
Most of these fish are unclipped hatchery origin fish, not wild fish. Minter ony clips some of their fish. Wdfw should recognize this when setting quota.
You should look a little closer sir. Native fisherpeople can’t make a living fishing the rivers any longer. They have cut the fishing to conserve all species. Just like the sports fisherpersons tribes have fishing cut too.
If there is any thing to blame the environment, condition of the water. The over population of seals. The state putting the commercial fishing before sports and tribes. If you want to learn more about how tribes are fighting to save the salmon go to NWIFC.org and see.
While I generally agree especially on the seal topic and spawning / estuary habitat, there’s also a big problem with the federal side which is responsible for the salmon treaty with Canada and how harvest is managed by Alaska, etc…
And of course, non-selective fishing in terminal areas does add more pressure to the native side of a run, but it certainly isn’t the only or even primary issue with our salmon runs.
There are 500,000 recreational salmon fishermen in Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington State, all trying to catch the Chinook salmon before the Indians can catch a handful on their 1,000 year old fishing grounds. Sounds like racism to me.
Bullshit!
No the number of wild Chinook has been reached. We need to make sure that the wild fish make it to spawn to keep the run alive.
There’s a good number of white river springers bound for the hatchery on the white river that are not clipped which are in MA11 this time of year.
I don’t begrudge the tribe their fish, but that these are all or even primarily wild fish is probably not accurate.
Yup
Corruption!
I always wondered. The Tribes have always netted sence I can remember. What has changed. Are hatcheries no longer run at full capacity and it seems theres been a lot of Chinese trawlers found in are waters with over 80,000 tons of salmon nobody wants to talk about.
One thing that’s changed is how many seals and sea lions there are.
Not sure who I am responding to. But here in the PNW the natives are the commercial fisherman.. everyone else has their boats serviced and heads out of the puget sound. They string nets straight across the mouth of all the rivers. No wonder no fish can spawn. Its a God damn joke. If I could take fish indiscriminately I’d feed my family all year long on a 6 week harvest also. Wake up and live in modern times. All for preserving heritage but not at the cost of the eco system they claim is their “heritage”
While you make some valid points, it’s really hard to place the blame on the tribes for declining salmon runs when our government protects the abnormal amount of seals and sealions that only got to these population numbers by developing the Puget Sound shorelines. Combined with the land use / habitat destruction that limits spawning anyways, it’s kind of incomplete to just “blame the nets”.
If you look at the numbers the harvest is split 50/50 even though there are some rivers or particular runs skewed the other way. There are also runs of fish skewed entirely towards the non-tribal commercials and sport fisherman up and down the coast.
I was fishing the skagit in 1972 when the boldt decision came down. The natives hit the rivers and well now the river is dead. Blame anything you want,but I know the ugly truth. If a fish can’t swim up stream, well there you go.
There’s lots of reasons the salmon the kings especially are not coming back. Two hundred years ago they estimated 12 million ish salmon returned up the Columbia every year. Now it’s in the thousands and below. From sea lions to seals to cormorants, to pike minnows, the dams low flows during hot spells and the young smolts going over the dams, the killer whales their pods are getting bigger, to gill netting the rivers,to and especially 50 mile long gillnet trawlers fishing all over the oceans and our Pacific ocean. What’s the answer you tell me?