Evaluate live capture selective harvest methods for commercial fisheries on the Columbia River

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Evaluate live capture selective harvest methods
for commercial fisheries on the Columbia River
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Selective Fishing

• A selective fishery has the ability to avoid
  catching species or stocks that are at risk and
  therefore protected and if encountered, the
  ability to release them alive and unharmed.
• AVOIDANCE LIVE CAPTURE

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Why are selective fisheries necessary in the
Columbia River?

• Managed harvest is part of recovery plans

• Snake and Columbia River spring chinook protected
  under Endangered Species Act
• ODFW Willamette Fisheries Management and
  Evaluation Plan adopted February 2001

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Keys to Successful Live Capture

• Benign capture method of capture must cause
  minimal harm to by-catch in the short and long
  term
• Careful handling of by-catch by fishers
• Recovery/Revival of by-catch when necessary

• Attitude of those involved

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Attitude

• Key to buy-in and success of live capture
• Public and industry meetings
• State-sponsored training workshops
• Fishing opportunity
• Real benefits
• Peer pressure

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Identification Handling of By-catch

• Public meetings
• Industry meetings
• Working with industry leaders
• Instructional workshops
• 2001
• 2002

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Recovery/Revival

• Development of Fraser (laminar flow) recovery box
  and application to commercial setting in Columbia
  River
• dimensions
• 2000,2001 modified coho box
• 2002 chinook box developed
• flow requirements
• standards developed via consultation with Simon
  Fraser University (B.C.) physiologists
• ongoing ODFW/Jake Fraser collaboration on
  modifications

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Recovery Box

• Education of fishers
• workshops
• educational product development
• Application in test and commercial fisheries
• 2000 - present

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Tangle Nets as Selective Commercial Fishing Gear

• Similar to traditional gillnets
• utilize smaller sized mesh

• Shown to be effective as selective gear when used
  in conjunction with other aspects of live capture
• British Columbia 1998-2002
• Columbia River 2000-?

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Tangle Nets in Spring Commercial Fisheries

• High Value, Low Volume fishery
• High mark rates in overall population

• Harvestable numbers of hatchery fish
• Cold water temperatures
• Minimal gear changes to fishers
• important aspect of acceptance

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Method of Capture

• Hang Ratio 2002 data expected to be sufficient

• Strings/Slackers 2002 data expected to be
  sufficient
• Drift Length workable standards are established
• Net Length workable standards are established

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Method of Capture

• Mesh Size key to avoidance of some by-catch,
  large effect on capture condition, direct effect
  on mortality
• 2000,2001 3.5 v 6.75
• 2001 3.5 4.5 v 8 3.5 v 4.5 5-6
• 2002 4.5 v 5 v 5.5 v 6 v steelhead excluder

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Implementation

• Post-release survival rates
• 2000, 2001 net pen holding 48-,72-hour
  assessment
• 2002 live tanks 24-hour incremental assessment
  to 48-hour total

• By-catch issues
• Steelhead encounter rates in 2002
• Compliance
• Handling

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2003 Proposal

• Demonstration fishery with observation

• Mesh size refinement
• searching for appropriate range
• determine extent to which by-catch avoidance is
  possible
• optimize by-catch condition at capture
• efficiency

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2003 Proposal

• Post-release survival
• short-term chinook steelhead (48-hour holding)
• short-term steelhead in demonstration fishery
  (48-72 hour holding)
• moderate-term steelhead survival behavior
  utilizing radio-telemetry

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A tangle net caught spring chinook