IT’S A GOOD news/bad news scenario.
The good news being the impending opening of the Dungeness River for hatchery coho has been confirmed by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Sunday’s opening, which stretches from the river mouth 11.3 miles up to the Dungeness Hatchery intake pipe, will provide bank-based anglers with a shot at catching four hatchery-clipped coho a day limit through Sunday, Nov. 27.
“I talked with the [Jamestown S’Klallam] tribe and we’ve been watching the catches down on [Marine Area] 6D [Dungeness Bay] and seeing the commercial catches, it looks positive,” Fish and Wildlife fish biologist Mike Gross said Wednesday.
“I just had a conversation in which the tribe has agreed to go forward with the preseason planning.”
Gross said the dates of the fishery are a little shorter than usual.
“It is confirmed that the fishery is a go and will run through Nov. 27, closing on the 28th,” Gross said.
“It will run through the Sunday on the weekend after Thanksgiving.
“It’s an earlier closure than we have seen recently, but our hatchery fish tend to be depleting at that point and we see more wild fish and not as many hatchery fish.”
The typical closing date has been Dec. 31 in recent seasons.
Gross said he didn’t have up-to-date totals on the number of hatchery coho that have arrived back at the Dungeness Hatchery.
The bad news is if the imminent storm system coming our way deals the North Olympic Peninsula a direct, or even a glancing blow, the Dungeness River will likely be blown out from a hefty amount of rainfall.
“The weather will take care of itself,” Gross said.
“The 16th is the traditional opener, and let the flows fall where they may. People will have a chance eventually to fish the river.”
Too soon on the Sol Duc
I also asked Gross if there was any forward progress on a potential fall season for hatchery coho on the Sol Duc River.
“We don’t have any movement on the Sol Duc,” Gross said.
Gross mentioned some complicating factors to this fishery — the biggest a lack of fall coho returning to the hatchery.
“We’re not there yet as far as the fish,” Gross said.
“The hatchery has only seen about a dozen fall fish. Those fish haven’t made it up to the hatchery yet.
“The summer-run coho report I had was a couple of thousand came back to the hatchery.” Gross characterized that return as “not spectacular, but not as bad as predicted.”
Fall run yet to appear
He also cautioned that the summer-run numbers don’t augur well for a solid return of coho in the fall.
“It’s not necessarily a good indicator [of a good fall return],” Gross said.
“Usually they run together and you can make a good guess. But last year the summer-run coho did very well but the falls did abysmally.”
Gross thinks the coming storms should help get coho on the move.
“That should push fish up if it’s anything like it’s forecast,” Gross said.
“After that we will be keeping an eye on the numbers and keep the talks going with the Quileute tribe.”
Nature talk in PT
With all that nasty weather headed our way, it may be better to stick around town than head out into the wildnerness this weekend.
Wildlife tracker, author and photographer David Moskowitz will present “Mountain Caribou and the Inland Rainforest” at Port Townsend’s Cotton Building, 607 Water St., from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Friday.
The presentation is sponsored by Jefferson Land Trust and Western Wildlife Outreach and the suggested donation is $10.
Moskowitz is the author of “Wolves in the Land of Salmon” and “Wildlife of the Pacific Northwest,” and the leader of a conservation initiative to explore the challenges the mountain caribou of Washington, Idaho and British Columbia face for survival in a changing environment.
Yes, Virginia, there are mountain caribou in our state. A small herd, estimated at around 15 animals, inhabits the northeast portion of our state near the border with Canada and Idaho.
Mountain caribou have long depended on the rugged and remote habitat that humans now use for lumber, hydropower, energy extraction and winter recreation.
And these environmental changes are pushing moose into caribou habitat — bringing wolves and other predators along to threaten the dwindling number of caribou.
“The story of the Mountain caribou of the Pacific Northwest is a story that defies easy answers for the problems we have created and one that illuminates the complicated web of ecological relationships which humans have altered in ways not easily undone – forcing us as a species to chart a new way forward as we strive to meet our own needs while attempting to preserve the biological diversity and integrity of the landscape around us,” said Moskowitz in a press release.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
