Indian netting endangers fish

Letter writer Mr. Robert Hayman claims Indians don't fish West Beach when Area 6 is open. A friend and I witnessed one loading his boat with kings in the Skagit north fork at 2:30 in the morning when the only place open was for pinks in Area 6 west of Whidbey.
Disoriented? Charting error? In Alaska they call it creek robbing.

The spring chinook run has improved in the last few cycles, incidental catch and release records prove it. The state wants 14,000 fish escapement on the previous run before considering a hook and line opening. A letter to the Skagit Argus by Russ Orell, a state fishery biologist, said in 1986 they opened the Coho net fishery from Gilligan Creek to Baker River and killed over 50 percent of the endangered chinook trying to spawn. This practice has been repeated many times since.

When sportsmen release an endangered steelhead while it's still in the water it helps to ensure it has the strength to get its head all the way into the Indian gill net. If Mr. Hayman had over six decades of fishing the Skagit as I have, he might have picked up a few pointers, the main one being if the 14,000 goal was reached and opened for sports, the Indian nets would guarantee the following cycle to be endangered all over again.

Dennis Sather, Mount Vernon

Letters to the Editor - Skagit Valley Herald