Author Archives: Joseph Peters

Squaxin Island 2013 Annual Commercial Net Fishing Regulations

Posted on by

On June 13th, 2013, Squaxin Island Tribal Council approved the 2013 Annual Commercial Net Fishing Regulations.   These annual regulations consist of the:  2013 Annual Commercial Net Fishing Regulations of The Squaxin Island Tribe with 2013 Fall Chinook Net Fishing Reglations (AR-13-01)   2103/2014 Coho and Chum Commercial Net Regulations of The Squaxin Island Tribe (AR-13-02)    A fishery is open by Emergency Regulation that is filed by the Squaxin Island Natural Resources Department.  Each Emergency Regulation will be posted at the Squaxin Natural Resources Department as well as online at the  Squaxin Island Website.  A summary of Emergency Regulations will also be provided on a twenty-four (24) hour “hotline” by calling 360-432-3899.

Questions regarding any Squaxin Island Treaty Net fishing please contact:
Joseph Peters
Squaxin Island Fisheries Management Biologist
360-432-3813 or jcpeters@squaxin.us 

2013 forecasts for deep south Puget Sound stocks

Fall Chinook

Squaxin Chum Management

Posted on by

Chum salmon fisheries are well in progress and as of November 11, the Squaxin Island Tribe fishermen have harvested approximately 25, 136 chum at a value of $133,853. This year’s chum catch is predicted to be just below the ten year average harvest by our Squaxin fishermen.

 

Our chum fisheries target healthy South Puget Sound wild chum stocks from Eld Inlet, Totten Inlet, Hammersley Inlet, Skookum Inlet, and Case Inlet. Northern Tribes and Washington State Non-Tribal fisheries target these stocks as well.

During the Chum salmon season Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission conducts the Apple Tree Cove Chum test fishery in Area 10 (Near Kingston, Washington), weekly for four weeks. In this test fishery the catches are used to update the inseason Puget Sound Fall Chum runsize. Catch results are plugged into a model with historical test fishery data to determine a runsize. After each of these test fisheries, harvest managers from Washington Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and Puget Sound Tribes conference call on the results as well as share regional catches. Based on this data the harvest managers make a decision to increase or decrease the Puget Sound Chum runsize. WDFW and the northern Tribes fisheries are based on the runsize and determine their available catch allocation.

While Non-Tribal fleet, recreational and our neighboring Tribes to the north are fishing, the extreme terminal Tribes are relying on chum making it to the streams to spawn (escapement). Squaxin Chum fisheries are based on escapement of Fall Chum runs into the Deep South Sound inlets. To ensure our local Fall Chum stocks reach escapement goals, Squaxin Natural Resources and WDFW staff conducts stream surveys to count spawning chum. These stream counts along with the Squaxin Island Tribe’s attentively timed fisheries allows for regional escapement to be met. Squaxin bears the burden of escapement of chum in our streams.

Inlet escapement goals

Even Years                                            Odd Years
Totten= 14,400                                       11,500
Skookum= 2,100                                    1,500
Eld= 18,500                                             14,500
Hammersley= 17,000                         13,500
Case= 1,800                                             1,500

Inlet escapement goals are on an even/odd basis that correlates with Pink salmon runs. Pink Salmon returns occur in odd years.

 

 

If you have any questions regarding Squaxin salmon fisheries management please contact Joseph Peters at 360-432-3813 or email at jcpeters@squaxin.us.

 

Squaxin Chinook and Coho Fishery Update

Posted on by

Fishing has been under way for the past few months, with what looks like a fair Chinook season and an above average coho season.  As of October 15th, our 88 licensed Tribal fishers have harvested 4,375 Chinook and 48,748 Coho.

Chinook and Coho Fish Management

This year the Budd Inlet Chinook fishery yielded 4,375 fish, below the ten-year average. Squaxin’s projected catch for Chinook is based on average catches from previous years, the predicted returning run-size to Tumwater Falls Hatchery, and the 3,500 Chinook escapement needed for the hatchery.  Escapement needs for the hatchery program were met this year. While other fisheries to the north harvest Deschutes fish, tribal and sport fisheries must contend with listed Chinook stocks of concern and are limited to a ceiling harvest rate.  Some tribes get only one to two days of fishing for their Chinook fisheries. Overall the run size was lower than expected and the Tribal fishery was down as well.

Squaxin coho catch is based on the previous year’s average harvest rates of net pen Coho. The harvest rate of Squaxin net pen Coho by Tribal fishers ranges from 94%-98%.  During the Coho fishery there are weekly in season update conference calls with the tribes and state to discuss regional catches and test fisheries from the straights and northern Salish Sea.  It is during these calls that an in-season update is made based on actual fishery results.    If a run size increases or decreases, the allocation of fish to tribes and the state change.

Squaxin Coho fisheries are unique in that the vast majority of the fish caught in 13D are net pen Coho with limited impacts on natural Coho due to the protected areas in the inlets.  By staying out of the inlets natural Coho have a better opportunity to escape into the creeks to spawn.  The Coho fishery through October 15th has harvested 48,748 Coho worth over $670,000. This is an above average outcome and suggests that there has been better ocean survival than previous years.

 

The results from this year’s fisheries will be used to plug back into fishery management decisions for next year. In the months of February through April, Squaxin Natural Resources takes part in the North of Falcon process, part of the Pacific Fishery Management Council.  This series of meetings gathers state, federal, and tribal fishery managers to plan Washington coastal, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Puget Sound recreational and commercial salmon fisheries. Tribal and State fisheries managers negotiate and agree on harvest impacts on forecasted returns, as well as scheduled fisheries.

 

Squaxin NR Sample Coho Catch

Posted on by

 

As the  2012 Squaxin coho fishery kicked off on Monday September 10th,  Squaxin Natural Resource staff starts commercial Coded Wire Tag (CWT) recovery sampling.  Using a specially designed wand to detect CWT’s, our Resource Technicians go through the commercially caught coho to recover the small tag that is implanted in to the snout of  roughly 2.5% of the coho that are released from Squaxin Net Pens.  Squaxin Net Pen Coho have a distinct CWT numbers, so we can find out when and where our fish are caught through all fisheries.  Commercial CWT recovery sampling data is a useful tool in salmon fishery management, hatcheries practices, migration timing, and stock assessment to name just a few uses.  Video of Squaxin Resource Technicians Commercial CWT Recovery Sampling (O’Connell 2009)

In the past two years Squaxin coho catches were at all time lows with 3,500 catch in ’10 and  5,200 catch in ’11.  There are some high hopes for a good coho fishery in 2012. Over the past few weeks we have been hearing good reports that the sport fishery has been very good in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and central Puget Sound.  Now we are seeing coho showing up in Peale and Pickering Passage.  It is still to early to project how well returns will be but the first four days of the fishery has been very consistent, with catches to date exceeding previous two years catches.  Current catch estimates  to September 13th are at 1,530 coho, averaging 6.85 lbs per fish.

Squaxin Coho

An estimated 41,373 Squaxin Island Net Pen coho are forecast to return in 2012, from 1.53 million net pen releases in 2011.  In the next eight weeks our Resources Technicians will sample the Squaxin commercial coho catch trying to sample at least 20% of the catch in an effort to recover CWT’s.

Michael West and Danny Snyder wand Squaxin caught coho to recover CWT's

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monitoring Health and Growth of Net Pen Coho

Posted on by

Each month Squaxin NR staff takes samples of coho from the net pens to monitor growth progress and fish pathology.   We select pens that are representative of the stocks we have and then seine a random sample of these pens.

George Krise seining coho smolt samples
George Krise dip netting a sample
Will Henderson and Joe Peters take fork length measurements.
Coho Smolt
Net Pen lethal samples of Skookumchuck fish to be sent off to NWIFC Pathology Lab

All photos above taken by Sarah Zaniewski

The sample is weighed and one hundred of them are measured.   Eight fish are taken from this sample as lethal samples to be looked at by Northwest Indian Fish Commission Fish Pathologists.

Squaxin Smolt Trapping Underway

Posted on by

 

Cranberry Creek Weir Panel Smolt Trap
Fork length measurement of a coho smolt (photo taken by Sarah Zaniewski)
Goldsborough Rotary Screw Trap

Squaxin Island Tribe is entering the thirteenth year of monitoring downstream outmigration of Oncorhynchus kisutch smolts (coho salmon smolts) by using weirs, rotary screw traps and mark/recapture methodology.   The enumeration  data of outmigrating smolts is used to estimate natural coho salmon production and for forecasting returning adults for South Puget Sound.

Squaxin will install weir panel traps on Mill, Cranberry, and Skookum Creeks at a site below observed coho spawning locations thus, capturing all outmigrating smolts.  Also a rotary screw trap will be installed in Goldsborough Creek  to be used in standard mark/recapture methodology.  Outmigrating coho salmon smolts will be captured, enumerated and lengths measured.  Other species such as chum fry, cutthroat, rainbow trout, and sculpin are also seen in the trap.

 

2011 Squaxin Salmon Catches at a Glance

Posted on by

The Squaxin Island Tribes salmon fisheries started off slow but appear to be at or above recent year averages, with exception of coho.

Our harvest of Chinook was above average at 7, 839.  Approximately 4,968 Chinook made it past our fishing efforts to Tumwater Falls Hatchery.  Tumwater Falls reached the needed egg take goal to continue production for our Fall Chinook run at 4.6 million eggs, as well as 2 million egg surplus to support other programs of need.

Coho for the second straight year was dismal.  We harvested 5,255 coho in 2011.  This number may be bigger given that a number of fishermen sold fish over the bank to theTeamstersBeachvisitors, sport fishermen and others.  It is not too late for fishermen to report over the bank sales by calling the Squaxin NR office.  Coho returns for the entirePuget Soundhave been at all time lows for the past two years. PoorOceansurvival and poorPuget Soundsurvival when our fish are released from the Net Pens are some theories to as why we are seeing low returns recently.

Our chum fisheries are managed according to escapement goals of wild chum stocks.  For example Totten Inlet escapement goal is 11,500 chum.  Each week Kennedy Creek and the surrounding Totten Inlet Creeks are walked to count chum to be used to calculate the escapement.  Each inlet escapement is carefully monitored and fisheries are scheduled accordingly to ensure escapement goals are met.

The last stream count on Kennedy resulted in 5,820 live chum and 278 dead chum.  We are well on our way to the 11,500 escapement goal in Totten.  This years Eld escapement goal is 14,500 chum.

To date our chum catches are at 19,164 and we have only had two directed chum fisheries.   This years chum catches are on track to be at our above our five and ten year average catches.

If you have any questions please contact:

 Joseph Peters

Squaxin Island Tribes Harvest Manager

360-432-3813 or email: jcpeters@squaxin.us.

2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Posted on by

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the 2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference  in beautiful Vancouver, BC with four of my fellow Squaxin NR colleagues.

Throughout the three days I sat in on a number of breakout sessions and reviewed scientific posters that ranged in topics covering Estuary Science, Marine Survival of Salmon, Marine Mammals, and Traditional Foods of the Salish Sea to name a few.  The conference was what I would call a “Salish Sea Scientist Convention,”  a group of scientist striving for a common goal….a healthy and plentiful Salish Sea.

As I reflect back on the sessions I attended at the conference,  most were very interesting, but one in particular about Snow Geese and Bullrush was one of my favorites.

The presentation, “Why are estuarine marshes in the Salish Sea disappearing and what must be done to fix the problem?” from Sean Boyd of the Science & Technology Branch, Environment Canada.  Mr. Boyd shared his studies of how Snow Geese have contributed to the disappearing marshes in Canada. Recent years Snow Geese populations in the Fraser Delta have significantly increased do to favorable breeding grounds and the decline of harvest.    The recent increased population of Snow Geese is decreasing Bullrush density .  Snow Geese eat Bullrush rhizomes and apparently consuming them at the same rate as they are being produced.  With the decline in Bullrush, Mr Boyd explained that these areas were reverting to mudflats of which could have serious impacts on food web.

Mr. Boyd’s recommendations to resolve the decline of Bullrush and increased populations of Snow geese are two fold:  Reduce the  Snow Geese to a manageable population through harvest and apply nitrogen  fertilizer to Bullrush marshes to increase rhizome density.

The 2011 Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference was very informative and I am thankful to attend.

South Sound Salmon Forecast and Squaxin Annual Regulations

Posted on by

It’s time to get your boats ready and gear mended because fishing season is just around the corner.  We are expecting to see some good returns of Fall Chinook  with approximately 19,500 expected to come back to Tumwater Falls Hatchery this year.   The coho season was a real downer last year with record low returns but the forecast looks promising with expected net pen coho returns to be around 51,000.

Fall chum numbers look to be lower this year from last with 264,000  coming back to our region.  Being an odd year, escapement goals for Totten Inlet (Kennedy) will be 11,500 chum and Eld Inlet (McLane & Perry) will be 14,500 chum.

2011 Deep South Sound Salmon Forecast

You should  see some Pink salmon dipping down in our waters.  South Sound Pink returns for Puyallup and Nisqually are expected to be around the million mark.

Squaxin Island Tribe fishing regulations are available on the web! Currently we have no fisheries open, but when we do open for fishing all emergency regulations will be posted on our website.

Check out the  2011 Squaxin Annual Fishing Regulations here:

Squaxin Annual Chinook Fishing Regulations

Squaxin Annual Coho & Chum Fishing Regulations

If  you have any questions regarding the Squaxin Island Tribe’s salmon fisheries please contact:

Joseph Peters

Fish Biologist/Harvest Manager

jcpeters@squaxin.us

360-432-3813

Arcadia Boat Launch Closure

Posted on by
The long-awaited reconstruction of the Arcadia Boat Ramp will begin in early July.  Fishermen and clam diggers please be aware that the ramp will be closed to all traffic during the construction period and use of the parking lot will be limited.
The 2011 Tribal Canoe Journey Launching and the First Salmon Ceremony will be held on the recently acquired Collier property, located on the point just north of the construction site.
The badly damaged existing ramp will be replaced with a new two-lane ramp long enough to allow access at lower tides.
For information, contact: Dan Neelands, Construction Manager @ 360-432-3975, dneelands@squaxin.us