.......that inspires some real, tangible actions that will prevent things like this from happening in the future
Patagonia Ambassador Dylan Tomine offers up a reality check on the debate surrounding the "world record" steelhead recently caught and killed on the Hoh.
Hi All--
Just wanted to comment on the the hubbub surrounding the killing of a wild, 30+ pound wild steelhead on the Hoh River last week. Yes, people are angry throughout the region over the death of this magnificent fish, and probably with good reason. Yes, the angler’s excuse that the fish was bleeding from the gills is extremely doubtful based on his broad smile in the pictures and the visible fly stuck near the tip of the fish’s snout. And yes, it is truly a sad event.
But the outcry has been so vehement, including threats of violence toward the angler, that I think it’s important to remember this was a single fish and it was legally taken. That doesn’t make it right, but I believe we need to redirect this anger toward the larger issues of which this is just one, small example.
The fact that it’s even still legal to kill a wild steelhead on the Hoh is ridiculous. The river has not met escapement in 9 of the last 17 years and has shown a marked decline in recent times. That’s part of the bigger picture I’m talking about. On one popular regional fishing bulletin board, at last count, there were 9 pages of posts condemning the angler for killing this single fish, while just below that there were several threads outlining political actions currently ongoing in Washington, and none of them had even half the response.
My point is that if even a small fraction of the time and energy that’s being spent against this one angler and his dead fish could be directed toward actions that have a significant impact on the underlying problems wild steelhead face, it would do a world of good. For example, the Hoh tribe has averaged nearly 68% of the harvest of wild steelhead on this river in recent years. Recently, in negotiations with the WDFW, they have requested a reported 77% of the harvest. This appears to be a reallocation of the Boldt Decsions 50-50 split, potentially based on the “foregone opportunity” of sport anglers. Again, this, on a river that frequently doesn’t even make its already-too-low escapement goal to begin with.
In light of the new Statewide Wild Steelhead Management Plan that places wild steelhead recovery as a top priority for WDFW, I believe the time is ripe to hold the state to this commitment. Doing that would take the kind of energy we’ve seen stirred up by the killing of the now infamous thirty pounder.
Another “big picture” issue is whether or not the IGFA should be accepting world record applications for dead fish from populations that are declining, and in some cases, endangered. It’s tough to have an organization that supposedly represents sport angling’s best interests encouraging people to kill fish in places that clearly cannot sustain harvest. Based on this angler’s comments about filing for a “world record,” I believe the IGFA record program could have been a motivating factor in the fish’s untimely demise. Again, I think a little of the energy we’ve seen, directed in the form of a letter campaign or petition to the IGFA, could be extremely effective here.
I also believe this angler’s unfortunate decision to kill the fish in the first place demonstrates how much work we have left to do in our collective efforts to educate our peers. Frankly, I’m surprised he chose to kill the fish, and probably, if he’s a thinking, caring human being, he’s learned a hell of a lesson from the outcry. Most steelhead anglers I know, even in light of (or especially in light of) this angler’s comment that it was “a fish of a thousand lifetimes” would have released it. But I think we need to keep some perspective here, and I hope this fish becomes a rallying point that inspires some real, tangible actions that will prevent things like this from happening in the future.
Peace,
Dylan
Monday, March 16, 2009 at 2:00AM 
