Looks like the SC Harbor Salmon Fishing is close to an end...

OMG.  How cool is that!  Kudos to NN!

Yes, definitely a plus to her, that's why I tried to call that out.  Very nice of her for sure.

PS As a writer, I would have preferred the author didn't use the word "Fisher" repeatedly....or at all.  We PC Santa Cruz journalists use "Angler" so as to avoid charges of sexism.  Using "Fisher" suggests she is not an angler, or a fisher, or a fisherwoman, girl, babe, whatever. 

A fisher is a bird..... or a boat.

That is why we all refer to our local paper as the Santa Cruz Senile. The editor was laid off years ago.

A fisher is a bird..... or a boat.

Or sometimes a small member of the weasel family.

 

  Splashdown hit on a point that I thought about first off.  We all know that salmon return to the waters they were born in to spawn.  What was the thought behind dumping a bunch of smolts in the upper harbor knowing that most of the fish would return, to spawn but not be able complete their life cycle?
  Wouldn't Soquel Creek be a muck better smolt dumping location?  At least, when the fish return they would be able to at least get into fresh waters (Rain permitting) IDK, to me it just seems that whoever was involved with the fish dump in the harbor a few years ago should have known better.

  Splashdown hit on a point that I thought about first off.  We all know that salmon return to the waters they were born in to spawn.  What was the thought behind dumping a bunch of smolts in the upper harbor knowing that most of the fish would return, to spawn but not be able complete their life cycle?
  Wouldn't Soquel Creek be a muck better smolt dumping location?  At least, when the fish return they would be able to at least get into fresh waters (Rain permitting) IDK, to me it just seems that whoever was involved with the fish dump in the harbor a few years ago should have known better.

I believe the idea was to supplement ocean salmon populations and potentially returns.  I think the fish were hatched at the american river hatchery so they had expected that the imprinting process would return the fish to the river.  It doesn't look like that has happened 100%.  But definitely should not be dumping smolts into any local creeks just for the sake of it.   

A fisher is a bird..... or a boat.

Or sometimes a small member of the weasel family.

How dare you refer to Ben as such!   

a small member

I take offense

a small member

I take offense

Hey, that's not me.  That was Bushy's quote.

But if the shoe fits ...

a small member

I take offense

Hey, that's not me.  That was Bushy's quote.

But if the shoe fits ...

Looked like it was your quote to me.  See:

a small member

And I didn't say it wasn't true, just that I was offended by it 

Post #17 Homie! 

A fisher is a bird..... or a boat.

Or sometimes a small member of the weasel family.

  Up in Washington, a long time ago, the state started giving salmon eggs to an indian tribe to let out at their creek. No way to spawn. Just harvest. When it started I was just getting too old to ski in the bay. Good timing because the gillnets were getting in the way towards the end of the summer. Just north of Everett, across from Langley and the southern end of Camano Island. They call it a bubble fishery  for the non-indians. Tulalip Bay, Tulalip Indian Reservation. Very short paddle for a kayak angler to slmon fish.

  Splashdown hit on a point that I thought about first off.  We all know that salmon return to the waters they were born in to spawn.  What was the thought behind dumping a bunch of smolts in the upper harbor knowing that most of the fish would return, to spawn but not be able complete their life cycle?
  Wouldn't Soquel Creek be a muck better smolt dumping location?  At least, when the fish return they would be able to at least get into fresh waters (Rain permitting) IDK, to me it just seems that whoever was involved with the fish dump in the harbor a few years ago should have known better.

I believe that Soquel Cr, San Lorenzo, and most of the other small coastal streams were not considered for Chinook smolt releases as they (the Chinook) would directly compete with the already struggling steelhead populations.

 

 I can understand that. 

Chinook Salmon Enhancement

The MBSTP operates a salt-water net pen in Santa Cruz harbor to acclimate Chinook salmon fingerlings obtained from the Feather River or Mokulmne Hatchery into the ocean. The Program enhances salmon fishing in the Monterey Bay area. Thousands of mature King salmon from this Program are caught by anglers annually.(In the Ocean) A coded wire tag study has been collecting data on the net-pen reared fish.

Only a very small percentage of these fish return to the Santa Cruz harbor as 2 or 3-yr olds.  The fact that percentage counts in the hundreds perhaps thousands of fish is a testament to efficacy of net pen release method, wherein 98% of the fingerlings or smolts make it successfully to the open ocean.  As opposed to 2% making the salt from natural
spawning.

Putting more salmon in the ocean provides more salmon for anglers (sport and commercial) to catch. More importantly, the practice  increases the percentage #'s of naturally spawning fish that can return to native spawning areas.


Bushy

The question then lies in do these salmon recognize their way back to the hatchery? Since they need to recognize markers on the way down the river this is the dilemma. I wonder if any one of our biologists here would like to chime in about this one.