Speech to Northwest Sportfishing Association
May 12, 2000

Thank you, it's a pleasure to be here tonight.

I see I am the lead off hitter tonight so the pressure is on especially considering the heavy hitters to come. So what I would like to lead off with is the recognition of team work and how we each have a role to plan in addressing the common challenges we face:

Federal salmon listings come to mind – we must recover our wild stocks of salmon and trout.

But help is on the way – changing ocean conditions seem to be helping the survival of not only salmon, but the resurgence of forage fish like smelt, anchovy and sardines on which they rely.

Another challenge is maintaining consistent recreational opportunities.

But again help is on the way – we are realigning fisheries to take better advantage of hatchery production – they need to be compatible and more efficient.

And all this means you are going to get a lot of "change-ups" thrown at you.

Actually, being a fisheries manager isn't so different from playing professional baseball these days. The pay's not as good, but some of the same principles apply:

• Keep your eye on the ball – particularly when the Legislature's in session.
• Watch what the pitcher's throwing at you.
• And, above all, you must be ready to take advantage of what opportunities come your way.

That's also been my advice to the fishing groups I've talked to since arriving at the agency in January of 1999. To borrow a phrase you've heard:

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"

i.e. be flexible and take advantage of any opportunity.

In this era of ESA listings – with the federal government monitoring not only our fisheries but also our hatcheries and other operations – we have to set up each fishing opportunity with the precision of a triple play.

And that's exactly what we did during the season-setting process in Portland last month.

We had some long innings, but we did succeed in chiseling out some great recreational salmon-fishing opportunities in a number of areas this year.

Columbia River Gorge - Wind River

You might have heard about the spring fishery that's been going on at the mouth of the Wind River. We now estimate that we're going to get 190,000 adult spring chinook past Bonneville Dam – the best return in 20 years.

Last week we had a report that 827 boat anglers and 130 bank anglers pulled 450 adult chinook out of those waters. That fishery is about over, but if you leave – right now – you can get in on the action further upstream when the recreational fishery opens on Monday. Around Leavenworth, up to 17,000 hatchery spring chinook are expected to return to the Icicle River.

The best news is that the number of jacks returning to the Columbia promise even BETTER fishing next year – estimates are "mind boggling."

There are clear indications that ocean conditions are finally improving after a decade of El Nino, and that's good news – not only on the Columbia but for all of our salmon stocks and fisheries.

Lower Columbia

Things also look very promising this year in the Lower Columbia, where we're expecting the best coho return since 1991. That should be a real hotspot during the first week of September and first week of October, when those runs peak.

This is the second year that we'll be able to target marked fish, and it's great to see that marking program pay off with a fishing season we can defend to the federal government and anybody else who asks. Compliance rates to the new fisheries rules are a big issue but our data says we are meeting or beating most of our expectations.

Grays Harbor and South Puget Sound

Grays Harbor appears to be another "comeback kid" this year, with the heathiest run of wild chinook predicted west of the Cascades.

In fact, those chinook – coupled with a strong return of hatchery coho – may make Grays Harbor the premier salmon fishery in the state.

Anglers can fish the months of September and October with a daily bag limit of two adult salmon – although only one of those fish can be a wild coho.

Again, mass marking allows us to offer some very productive fisheries while still meeting our escapement goals for wild stocks.

The same is true of South Puget Sound, where we're forecasting a very strong run of chinook to the Nisqually River this year.

The season is open in most areas through April 30th of next year – but anglers WILL have to be aware of special restrictions at certain times noted in the rule book.

Selective Fisheries

We're well aware that all these special rules connected with selective fisheries can be a pain for anglers, but I'm here to tell you that they sure beat the alternative.

Thus far "selective fisheries" have lived up to the promise of changing the rules when it comes to salmon management, and at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife we're proud of our leadership in developing this management tool for our sustainable fisheries.

For us, sustainability means not only protecting listed species but also maintaining the opportunities for viable fisheries for the people – and businesses – of this state.

This year, we showed the federal government that – through "selective fisheries" – we can do both, and we got a pretty good salmon fishery in return.

We're hoping to add more of those fisheries in upcoming years.

Last year, we marked 15 million salmon in a massive fin-clipping operation to help anglers differentiate between catchable hatchery salmon and protected wild fish.

This year, we plan to mark 60-65 million fish – chinook, coho and steelhead, using a truly high-tech machine that can clip 7,200 adipose fins an hour without hurting the fish.

But that's not going to do us much good if people don't follow the rules and learn to use a device called the de-hooker.

I know that at least some of you are license vendors, and any help you can give us in spreading the word about the importance of releasing unmarked chinook, coho and steelhead is much appreciated.

Commitment to Fisheries

I told you that the Department of Fish and Wildlife is committed to maintaining viable commercial and recreational fisheries in this state.

That's my personal commitment as well as my agency's statutory mandate.

And, as with your own businesses, healthy recreational fisheries are also critical to our bottom line.

As you may know, revenues collected from hunting and fishing licenses make up nearly a quarter of our agency's entire budget.

We've got some things we, together, need to work on – federal listings, changing demographics, the urbanization of our society – but we're working hard to overcome those things.

So we are MOTIVATED to offer recreational opportunities that are consistent with sustainability and land resource management -- and we are succeeding!

WILD system

But there is more to come!

For starters, we're working to bring a new computerized licensing system on line that will speed up over-the-counter sales and allow people to buy licenses by phone or over the Internet.

Telephone and Internet service is expected to be on line this winter, and all of you who sell licenses over the counter should be up and running by next spring.

Given the other challenges we face, we want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy a license if they're so inclined.

Trout opener

We also want to give them more reasons to do so. The lake trout opener last month is the sort of thing that generates interest in fishing and we tried to make the most of it.

Approximately 350,000 people turned out for opening day this year – and a lot those we surveyed said our new "triploid trout" program a motivating factor.

I know your organization helped push that program from the start, and I want to thank you for that effort.

This year, we planted 44,000 sterilized trout weighing up to 3 pounds each this year, and we're funded to continue the program for the next three years.

We're still compiling the data on exactly how big of a draw those triploids are, but the evidence from agency letters definitely suggests that it is a huge success.

Kids' fishing

We're also trying to get more kids hooked on fishing.

This year we joined with the Cast for Kids Foundation, anglers' organizations and some of the businesses represented here tonight to sponsor the Kids Klassic Fishing Series.

Events have already been held in Lacey and Vancouver and 4 more are coming up in the next few months, offering thousands of kids ages 5 to 14 a hands-on fishing experience they won't forget.

The Fish and Wildlife Commission feels very strongly that the future of our fisheries depends on the kids of today – and we want to help get a fishing pole into as many young hands as possible.

Working Together

Partnerships that promote fishing opportunities like these will continue to be very important in the months and years ahead.

The situation with listed salmon and the National Marine Fisheries Service is extremely volatile, and the folks making the rules need to understand that their decisions affect real people's lives.

• Hatchery reform is going to be a big issue, and there's a lot at stake. Our hatchery system is the cornerstone of our recreational salmon fishery but it's coming under increasing attack on environmental grounds because our facilities do not meet scientific standards.
  
  Sen. Slade Gorton is currently working to secure funding to help rehabilitate Washington's aging hatchery system and we would appreciate any help you can give us. Obviously it is in everybody's interest to make the changes necessary and keep those facilities operating.
  
  
• On a broader scale, we could definitely benefit from your marketing expertise in promoting fishing as a Northwest lifestyle. Fishing is not incompatible with saving depleted salmon runs. In fact, fishers are the traditional stewards of the resource and we need to get that message out.

I do want you to know that we appreciate your help in keep our fisheries alive.

As an example of how we work together, MY legislative liaison has already met with YOUR new lobbyist, Mike Ryherd, to discuss common strategies, and my door is always open to anyone with good ideas.

One of those good ideas is to stop here and let the rest of the team come up to bat. Thanks for this opportunity to talk to you here tonight.

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