Wednesday
Mar232011
If a picture is worth a 1000 words
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at 12:02AM 
Wild steelhead could really use your help.
The Wild Steelhead Coalition developed this graphic from information on the NOAA website with the goal to communicate the endangered status of wild steelhead in the Pacific NW and California simply on one page.
Click on the graphic to see it full size.
Reader Comments (9)
Endangered/Threatened species and you still fish for them? gj
It might be a losing battle but I noticed that native San Diego/Southern California steelhead are not shown on the map. The outlook is worse than grim but there are a few fish hanging on. Southern California steelhead were the progenitors of modern rainbow trout and steelhead found from LA to Russia. They at least deserve a red "Endangered species" mark on this map. I think they earned it.
Recent status:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jan/24/steelhead-effort-fails-north-county/
History:
http://www.sandiegotrout.org/
@EOC, Fishing for them is different from harvesting them. I think you will find that Steelhead fly-fisherman are among the most dedicated people when it comes to conservation. Without the efforts of those who fish for them, Wild Steelhead would surely be gone.
Sad, but a very well created graphic showing the plight of Steelhead.
Great Garphic....
yet despite all that is brought about concerning this mighty fish and others, when it comes to simple things like a River Clean-Up or spending a weekend or two counting/spotting fish and reds for up-to-date data, the ones who most often rely on this "valuable resource" are far to often nowhere to be seen.
1 or 2 times a year people, attend a meeting, volunteer or start a project of your own. If everyone took this commitment to heart we could make great strides towards reversing this trend, bleak as it may seem...
The San Diego Trout website has not been updated in three years. While the lights still may be on, I haven't heard of them doing anything recently.
A much better source for the southern CA steelhead recovery coalition would be the Golden State Flycasters: http://www.goldenstateflycasters.org/
While all rainbow populations with at least seasonal access to the ocean should be equally considered and protected (like the San Mateo Cr. fish and even Rio Santo Domingo in Baja), it's been explained to me that such a shift would come with an array of political and legal difficulties and could actually work against current recovery efforts in CA. Maybe things have changed?
We should not brush aside the very appropriate criticism that "we" are actively targeting threatened species here in the Northwest. To say that C&R fishing is not a form of harvest is not true and a gross rationalization. If you add up all the fish released in a basin and apply the 3% to 5% mortality that such angling exacts, we are killing fish. The only fair rationale for fishing in these rivers is the fact that "threatened" populations are abundant enough to allow for some harvest.
While steelhead anglers can be a strong force for conservation, the bulk of steelheaders don't believe there is such a thing as wild fish and would rather fill our rivers with hatcheries. So I cannot buy into the argument that closing fishing will take away the conservation constituency. If we really care about steelhead, we'll care about them whether or not we are allowed to fish for them.
Finally, please consider adjusting your rhetoric (WildBill and the Wild Steelhead Coalition) from statements like "would surely be gone" to something more accurate and germain. The fact that steelhead still swim in the Santa Ynez and Malibu Creek is a clear indication that "extinction" due to localized human influence is unlikely. Steelhead are well suited to survive the human race. They are expanding their range to the north and they are holding on in southern extremes. The question is whether they can thrive and remain abundant enough to sustain fisheries. And that depends on us changing our very nature as a species, which is unlikely.
The writing is on the wall: as our population centers continue to grow, wild fish will be pushed into the margins. Fishing, even flyfishing, will eventually become inappropriate.
The most harrowing factors are the most recent: Climate change, the "fifth horseman of the apocalypse" as Don Chapman so rightly calls it, is a wild card. Ocean acidification is the brutish sixth, and even scarier, threatening to crash the entire ocean food chain. Neither of those threats is being actively addressed, and none of our conservation efforts are going to slow that progression any time soon, if ever. No matter how much money you send to the WSC.
So what's my point?
1) Let's quit threatening extinction "unless we act now." The ends don't justify the misleading means. We can communicate accurately and still grow our ranks.
2) Let's dig in and work, and that means changing how we live. Less driving, less stuff. That's the tough one for me.
3) Let's show up at public meetings and be a reliable voice for wild fish. You won't believe how important that is until you do show up for a few of them.
4) Let's educate ourselves and others.
5) Let's be honest about the fact that our angling pressure can hurt fish. If we really want to play with steelhead without hurting them, we can look to examples like Bill McMillan and Lee Spencer. We can be dedicated to the fish we love without wrestling them to shore for sport.
The natural progression for serious anglers is away from angling, toward "fish watching" and conservation efforts.
Shut it all down for 10 years.
Legal Seafood and our local grocery store are selling steelhead in the Boston area. How does one find out if these are wild? I know there are hatchery steelhead, but are there also farm raised steelhead that are being sold on the East Coast?