Gillnetting Gets Blame For Poor Steelhead Run

An Idaho fishing advocacy group is blaming an extended gillnet fishery downstream for a steelhead run far lower than original expectations.

The Idaho Fish and Game Department originally predicted 15,000 “B-run” steelhead would make it to the Clearwater River. But last week, it announced that number has fallen by half.

The sharp drop from the numbers counted at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River should be a wake-up call to Washington and Oregon to restrict the treaty gillnet fishery, said Mitch Sanchotena, executive coordinator of Idaho Steelhead and Salmon Unlimited.

“We are appalled that Oregon and Washington would allow the tribes to gillnet these Idaho steelhead at a 30 to 40 percent harvest rate,” he said. “After all, these are the same fish that the fed’s just proposed for Endangered Species Act protection 45 days ago.”

Idaho Steelhead believes that with the low number of the ocean-going trout entering the Columbia and Snake rivers, they should be managed the same as for endangered spring chinook salmon. Columbia River treaty fishing is restricted to only 7 percent of the Snake River spring and summer chinook runs.

“It’s becoming apparent that Oregon and Washington care little about Idahoans,” Sanchotena said. “First, they want water to flush fall chinook salmon to the ocean, which Idaho fishermen do not support the use of Idaho water for.

“Then when the fish return, they allow the overharvest of them,” he said. “Under this scenario, Idahoans are being victimized twice.”

He said that until the hydroelectric dams in Oregon and Washington are fixed, up to 97 percent of Idaho’s salmon and steelhead will be killed, while Idaho sportsmen and Indians will remain the victims.