I am a retired NOAA Fisheries engineer with over 35 years of experience in design of upstream and downstream fish passage facilities and traps. I read the article “Banned fish trap returns to the Columbia” (Jan. 29, The Columbian) with chagrin. Traps of the nature described were banned for a reason: they are efficient and lethal. Their past use resulted in over-harvest, and were instrumental in reducing run sizes to low levels we are still struggling to enhance.
Chinook salmon are especially vulnerable to elevated cortisol levels from thrashing around in the trapping pool and hand-sorting from wild fish. Research has shown that this treatment can result in pre-spawning mortality. Further, NOAA Fisheries criteria prohibits manual handling of fish without anesthetic.
In short, this article represents the views of a small group that stands to make a handsome profit at the expense of sport fishermen, other gillnetters, and especially our fragile and depleted salmon and steelhead populations. I am especially interested in the state and federal views of using guide nets and traps such as described, and whether there is the slightest chance such facilities will be approved for production salmon harvesting.
