08/17/2023
Lawsuit update. Now we wait. We filed our lawsuit and then filed a stay motion asking the courts to grant a stay on any changes and reverting back to permanent rule until we have our day in court. We are waiting for the courtās ruling!!
Simple truth is that this is a huge blind leap of faith on my part that I could do a lawsuit against ODFW solo believing the fishing world would step forward and support the movement for change. I've had a number of friends and groups join. I literally had hundreds of people ask how they can help and how to make a donation. We have had 19 people donate to help with legal fees .Thank you.
In the stay motion ODFW claimed we, as anglers, are harvesting too many fish in Oregon, completely ignoring harvest that happens outside of Oregon. ODFW literally said we harvested 65% of the salmon that returned to Tillamook bay in 2021. ODFW doesn't realize the real issue is how they count escapement. How can ODFW count escapement for Tillamook bay without ever counting the Trask river? A 65% harvest of every Chinook that returned to the bay? We would literally have to hook every fish that entered the bay. How many people land 65% of their fish or kill every fall Chinook they catch. Another example they gave was a 15,000 in river harvest on the Alsea one year. That comes down to 150 consecutive of 100 fall chinooks per day harvested on the Alsea. How does ODFW not fact check their own data?
ODFW referenced a document that tells them what in-river and ocean harvest percentages are on our Chinook, something that up until now no one has been able to produce. Because both were referenced in ODFWs response to our stay motion, we are now demanding proof of how they calculate escapement and the report they claim to have. We want to show the glaring hole in how they calculate escapement and harvest rate.
They do very few counts and ODFW has absolutely refused to make any changes. They talk about climate change, etc. but refuse to adjust and or change how they do spawn counts, doing them mostly the same way they have done them for 50+ years.
For years we have known their counts were a total joke and had no correlation to what actually returned. No other agencies set their fishing season based on these counts because they know they are worthless. Even ODFW doesn't look at their own counts when setting ocean harvest for chinooks.
The problem is ODFW now weighs previous year's spawn counts as 50+ % of their calculations when setting in river harvest for the next year while refusing to do better spawn counts.
On the Siuslaw ODFW only counts small tributaries. In 2019, when we had extremely low flows during the fall, ODFW counted very few fish because the fish spawned in the main stem, but ODFW refused to do any counts at all in the mainstem. A number of us offered to take them in our boats on both the Siletz and Siuslaw that year to do mainstem spawn counts and ODFW refused. We got our first big rain in December that year after most all the counts were done for the season. ODFW refused to count the late fish too.
In 2020, when ODFW wanted to close to Siuslaw, we explained it was because they refused to count the mainstem. Rather than close the river, ODFW massively restricted the Siuslaw. No surprise that ODFW was wrong and the river could have had a full harvest and seasons. Again, ODFW refused to change how they do spawn counts.
The same thing happened again in 2021 when the Siuslaw was open to 2/20 and 2022 when the Siuslaw was totally closed. ODFW was wrong again both years. Escapement was strong enough in 2022 we could have had a season on the Siuslaw. Again, the Siuslaw went from 2/20 to 1/1 to 2/20 to completely closed and should be back to 2/20 this season again because ODFW spawn counts are useless.
Even now, ODFW refuses to do any main stem counts, but relies more heavily on these counts for escapement predictions. ODFW has repeatedly refused to adopt or use adaptive management when conditions change.
During those years of restrictions and closures on the Siuslaw, the PST didnāt take any reductions. Even Oregon in 2022 allowed unlimited harvest in the ocean for chinooks. You could sit just outside the mouth of the Siuslaw and catch two each day every day. And inside the imaginary line there was zero Chinook fishing at all. Two different ways of setting our seasons by ODFW, on the exact same returns.
Most of our problems with spawn counts and all of the problems with harvest rates are due to the sh*tty way odfw counts and calculates escapement. How do we get ODFW to do spawn counts accurately? How do we get them to have any cares at all about predators, ocean by-catch, ocean over harvest and how do we get ODFW to stop treating the fisherman of Oregon as a problem? How do we get ODFW to fight for our fish?
I've tried working with ODFW for 20+ years and haven't gotten anywhere, so time to try something new.......
