State fishery managers have scheduled a public meeting Thu., June 25 in Vancouver to discuss changes in the way the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is managing this year's return of hatchery steelhead to the Kalama River.
The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at WDFW's Region 5 office at 2108 Grand Blvd., Vancouver.
With summer-run steelhead now moving into the river in increasing numbers, fishery managers are taking action to reduce the number of hatchery steelhead that reach upriver spawning grounds this summer, said John Weinheimer, a WDFW fish biologist.
"Studies have shown that hatchery fish make up half to three-quarters of all summer steelhead found upriver from the Kalama Falls Hatchery in recent years," Weinheimer said. "We want to talk to anglers about this situation, and the measures we plan to take to address it."
In mid-May, WDFW raised the catch limit to three hatchery steelhead a day to help reduce the number of hatchery fish moving upriver, Weinheimer said. Other measures planned or already in effect include:
The main reason so many hatchery fish are reaching the upper river is that the fish barrier at Kalama Falls is failing to stop them, Weinheimer said. In recent years, significant numbers of fish have been observed jumping over the aging concrete structure, which is supposed to channel those fish back to the hatchery, he said.