Saving Seafood

ALASKA: First time in 10 years, tribe to have limited fishery on Elwha

May 7, 2023 –The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will conduct a limited fish harvest on the lower Elwha River this October, the first time the river has been open to any fishing in more than a decade.

The tribe, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and Olympic National Park have announced a limited Tribal Ceremonial and Subsistence Fishery for coho salmon on the lower three miles of the river.

The fishery has been closed to commercial and recreational fishing since 2011, when dam removal on the river began.

Recreational and commercial fishing will resume when there is broad distribution of spawning adults above the former dam sites, spawning rates allow for population growth and diversity, and a harvestable surplus of fish are returning to the Elwha River, according to a press release.

Mountain lakes in the Elwha basin within the national park and Lake Sutherland opened to sport fishing the fourth Saturday in April and will remain accessible for fishing through Oct. 31.

The dams, installed more than 100 years ago, devastated the salmon population in the river and the fishery was closed following the dams’ removal to allow fish populations to rebuild their populations.

Read the full article at Peninsula Daily News

New Program Gives Vet Foothold in Fisheries

November 22, 2016 — Barney Boyer’s first few months as a NOAA Fisheries intern have been busy. He has assisted with tracking the return of salmon and forage fish to the Elwha River estuary, surveyed Puget Sound ocean conditions, and begun studying the invasion of non-native fish in the Snohomish River.

Boyer is the first military veteran to take an internship with NOAA Fisheries through a new partnership between Washington’s The next link/button will exit from NWFSC web site Department of Veterans Affairs and The next link/button will exit from NWFSC web site Veterans Conservation Corps, NOAA Fisheries’ West Coast Region, the The next link/button will exit from NWFSC web site NOAA Restoration Center and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NWFSC). Boyer is based at the NWFSC’s Mukilteo Research Station, near Everett, where he is assisting with several research projects, including one that may include him as co-author of a peer-reviewed paper.

“It’s really turned out to be an amazing experience so far,” Boyer said. “Every day here is an interesting experience, and I’m learning all the time.”

Casey Rice, director of the Mukilteo Research Station until his unexpected passing earlier this year, was a key advocate of hosting veterans at Mukilteo.

“Casey wanted this to happen and his colleagues have assumed the task of moving it forward,” said John Floberg of the NOAA Restoration Center, who helped coordinate the program. “It’s Casey’s legacy that veterans are now contributing to research at Mukilteo.”

Read the full story at the Fishing Wire