In brief: Commission adopts, alters hatchery steelhead retention rule

A proposal that would have required Washington anglers to keep all hatchery steelhead they catch from the Snake and Grande Ronde rivers was adopted but altered by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife had floated a rule that would make anglers keep all hatchery steelhead they catch in the two rivers.

But the proposal was watered down by the commission, at the recommendation of the department, during its meeting in Tumwater last week, the Lewiston Tribune reports.

The commission adopted a suite of fishing rule changes for the Columbia River basin on the east side of the state.

But it completely dropped the mandatory steelhead retention rule for the Snake River and reduced the scope of the proposal in the Grande Ronde.

John Whalen, fish program manager for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at Spokane, said the catch-and-release only regulations for steelhead on the lower 2.5 miles of the river will remain in place during the fall and early winter.

Starting Jan. 1 each year, anglers fishing both the upper and lower portions of the Grande Ronde in Washington will have to keep all hatchery steelhead they catch.

But rules that prevent anglers from using bait and require them to use single, barbless hooks on the river’s first 2.5 miles will remain in place throughout the steelhead season.

The mandatory retention rule was designed to reduce the number of hatchery fish that end up spawning in Grande Ronde tributaries, where it is feared they will dilute the genetic traits of wild steelhead.

Whalen said the prospect of opening the lower section to harvest early in the season risked leading to crowded fishing conditions.

The state also heard comments from fisheries officials in Oregon, who said making anglers keep all hatchery fish earlier than Jan. 1 would target steelhead bound for the upper reaches of the river across the Oregon-Washington state line.

Also under the rules adopted by the commission, Spring and Blue lakes along the Tucannon River will be open year-round.

New instruction videos help dog owners avoid dangerous traps

Instructional videos to help dog owners coexist with trapping are being produced by the Idaho Fish and Game Department.

The latest video, “ Avoiding Wildlife Traps While Walking Your Dog,” is available on Idaho Fish and Game’s trapping webpage at bit.ly/1xz57FL.    

The 9-minute video shows how to recognize the variety of traps and snares dog owners may encounter while hiking or walking their pets.

The first video produced by the agency, “ Releasing Your Dog from a Trap,” explains how a variety of traps work and how to release your dog from traps. This 8-minute video also is on the Fish and Game website.

Although Fish and Game does not know how many dogs are caught in traps each year and not reported, trapper harvest reports indicate an increasing number of incidental dog catches over the last several years.

In the 2012-2013 trapping season, 32 accidental dog captures were documented and 52 dog captures were reported during the 2013-2014 season. Several resulted in dog deaths.