EDITOR’S NOTE — In addition to this article, see related November 2009 story below, “Lower Elwha Klallam tribe studying Lake Sutherland kokanee.”
PORT ANGELES — A proposed five-year moratorium on fishing in the Elwha River watershed will be the subject of public meeting Dec. 15.
With removal of two major dams on the Elwha River set to begin next year, state fishery managers are considering closing fishing on the Elwha River and its tributaries for five years.
The proposed moratorium could include Lake Sutherland, which drains into the Elwha via Indian Creek.
The intent of the closure would be to see if the 361-acre lake’s resident kokanee (landlocked sockeye) will migrate out to the ocean and return as spawning salmon, state Fish and Wildlife biologist Mike Gross said in October.
“[There are] hopes that the kokanee population would give rise to an anadromous variety, being the sockeye salmon, which is rumored to have been there in the past before the dams,” Gross said.
The Dec. 15 public meeting is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. in Room M-125 of the Information Technology Building Room at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles.
Ron Warren, regional fish manager, said a fishing moratorium would help to protect fish runs during dam removal and maximize the number of fish available to spawn in the Elwha River watershed.
“Once those dams are gone, we’ll have a tremendous opportunity to rebuild fish runs that have been blocked from the upper river for the past century,” Warren said.
“A fishing moratorium would support that goal, but we want to talk to area residents before we formally propose a plan to the commission.”
The state Fish and Wildlife Commission, which sets policy for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, will hold a public hearing on the proposed fishing moratorium at its Jan. 7-8 meeting in Olympia.
The commission will consider adoption of the proposal at a meeting scheduled Feb. 4-5.
Agendas for both meetings will be available on the commission’s website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2010/.
Written comments on the proposal will be accepted through Dec. 31.
Comments may be submitted to Fish and Wildlife Rules Coordinator Lori Preuss at Lori.Preuss@dfw.wa.gov or 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia, WA 98501.
The National Park Service, which manages Olympic National Park, and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe have already endorsed a five-year fishing moratorium for the fisheries they manage in the watershed.
The first fishing closures on the Elwha River are scheduled for next November, shortly after demolition crews begin removing the 108-foot Elwha Dam and the 210-foot Glines Canyon Dam from the river.
Scheduled for completion in 2014, that project — the largest dam removal in U.S. history — will open up more than 70 miles of spawning and rearing habitat to salmon and trout upriver from the lower dam’s current location.
————–
RELATED STORY: Lower Elwha Klallam tribe studying Lake Sutherland kokanee (news release released Nov. 15, 2009, by the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission):
It’s an annual one-day operation, but what comes of it will help the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe learn more about Lake Sutherland kokanee.
The tribe has been studying the landlocked sockeye salmon within the Elwha River watershed for four years, including the populations health and genetics.
The purpose is to gather baseline data of the population before the rivers fish-blocking dams are removed starting in 2011. The lake is connected to the river via Indian Creek.
Like sockeye, kokanee spawn only once in their life cycle, and typically spawn in rivers and streams that are tributaries to lakes but also on lakeshores, mainly where groundwater comes up through gravel.
Unlike sockeye, kokanee spend their entire lives in freshwater.
Because they don’t migrate to sea to feed, kokanee are much smaller than their anadromous sockeye cousins.
After the dams are removed, well continue this effort and see if anadromous fish begin to use Lake Sutherland, and see if there is change in the health profile of the kokanee, said Larry Ward, the tribe’s hatchery manager.
It’s possible that the kokanee may leave the lake and head for the Strait of Juan de Fuca after the dams come down, but it is more likely the fish will stick to the freshwater, Ward said.
“Having a solid database of the health of the kokanee will help us keep tabs on the health of the watershed,” Ward said.
“It’s all part of learning more about the enormity of the Elwha River system and what species have what roles in it.
“The database we are building is incredibly valuable on its own, but more so if anything were to happen to this population.”
Fish pathologists from the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sample the fish for diseases and to develop genetic profiles.
Special attention is paid to looking for Infectious Hematopoetic Necrosis (IHN) to which sockeye are susceptible. It’s a fish disease that causes death by destroying blood-forming tissues such as the kidney and the spleen.
Further work is being conducted by a biologist from Canada’s department of Fisheries and Oceans who is studying a fish parasite unique to the Lake Sutherland kokanee.
The parasite doesn’t appear to be harmful to the fish, but further studies are being conducted.
