03-30-2012, 02:53 PM
Anyone who thinks that jacks are incapable of producing and depositing fertile sperm/milt on salmon roe should seriously consider removing the word "expert" from their title.
Here are some snippets from July 2009 email conversations that I had with David Parrish, Resident Fisheries Program Coordinator for Idaho Fish and Game in Boise, regarding using jacks in their spawning programs as well as Lower Columbia springer harvest:
"Jacks are used in spawning programs at our fish hatcheries, however they are only used proportionate to their percentage of the male population of anadromous salmon. Our genetics experts have been concerned for a number of years about artificial breeding programs skewing the percentages of jacks to adult males and we have consciously tried avoiding this from happening."
"Due to the extreme number of jacks this year, we will only use a small portion in our artificial spawning efforts. If you stop and think –it’s important to have multiple year classes returning each year to guard against catastrophic events that could wipe-out a single year spawning event. By having 3, 4, and a few 5 year-old spawning fish, it would take several successive years of failure to lead to extinction.
I’m in total agreement with your assessment of the harvest issue and how it’s being handled in the Lower Columbia. Washington and Oregon ignored our concern about heavy harvest in the lower Columbia on fish we know by PIT tag data, were returning to Idaho. We are guessing from preliminary data that harvest on Rapid River salmon was in the 40 –50% range by down-river anglers. Until we have the political and legal will to push the issue; Washington and Oregon won’t change current harvest practices. There are strong contingents of outfitters in Washington and Oregon that actively lobby for long seasons and high quotas all along the Columbia River system. Economics of salmon and steelhead fishing are staggering and they don’t want to give it up without a fight."
"Because salmon are listed under ESA, Washington and Oregon can’t allow targeted harvest on wild salmon or steelhead. There is some incidental take that is anticipated and each state has to have a permit from NOAA/NMFS to cover this mortality factor."
This covers a few of the issues that have come up on this thread.
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Here are some snippets from July 2009 email conversations that I had with David Parrish, Resident Fisheries Program Coordinator for Idaho Fish and Game in Boise, regarding using jacks in their spawning programs as well as Lower Columbia springer harvest:
"Jacks are used in spawning programs at our fish hatcheries, however they are only used proportionate to their percentage of the male population of anadromous salmon. Our genetics experts have been concerned for a number of years about artificial breeding programs skewing the percentages of jacks to adult males and we have consciously tried avoiding this from happening."
"Due to the extreme number of jacks this year, we will only use a small portion in our artificial spawning efforts. If you stop and think –it’s important to have multiple year classes returning each year to guard against catastrophic events that could wipe-out a single year spawning event. By having 3, 4, and a few 5 year-old spawning fish, it would take several successive years of failure to lead to extinction.
I’m in total agreement with your assessment of the harvest issue and how it’s being handled in the Lower Columbia. Washington and Oregon ignored our concern about heavy harvest in the lower Columbia on fish we know by PIT tag data, were returning to Idaho. We are guessing from preliminary data that harvest on Rapid River salmon was in the 40 –50% range by down-river anglers. Until we have the political and legal will to push the issue; Washington and Oregon won’t change current harvest practices. There are strong contingents of outfitters in Washington and Oregon that actively lobby for long seasons and high quotas all along the Columbia River system. Economics of salmon and steelhead fishing are staggering and they don’t want to give it up without a fight."
"Because salmon are listed under ESA, Washington and Oregon can’t allow targeted harvest on wild salmon or steelhead. There is some incidental take that is anticipated and each state has to have a permit from NOAA/NMFS to cover this mortality factor."
This covers a few of the issues that have come up on this thread.
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