Elwha River fishing closure extended to support fish restoration

brownheron

corvus ossifragus
WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
1111 Washington St. SE, Olympia, WA 98501
wdfw.wa.gov


April 28, 2022
Contacts:
Penny Wagner, Olympic National Park: 360-565-3005
Matt Beirne, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe: 360-457-4012 Ext. 7480
Eryn Couch, WDFW, 360-890-6604

Elwha River fishing closure extended to support fish restoration

PORT ANGELES The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Olympic National Park and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) announced an extension to the recreational and commercial fishing closure for the Elwha River and its tributaries through June 30, 2023.

In place since 2011, when removal of the two Elwha dams began, a moratorium on fishing in these waters helps protect depleted native salmonid populations including federally threatened populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout. This moratorium does not apply to mountain lakes in the Elwha River basin within Olympic National Park or to Lake Sutherland, which will remain open to sport fishing from the fourth Saturday in April through October 31.

The Tribe is eager to resume fishing on the Elwha, a river of central importance to our people and culture, which was freed in large part through the persistence of our elders, said Lower Elwha Klallam Vice-Chair, Russ Hepfer. But out of our respect for the fish themselves, we know we need to wait a little longer until the runs are restored to the point that they can sustain some harvest. The dams were in place for 100 years and it took patience and determination to get them removed; the same patience and determination will also result in restored fisheries.

Monitoring the recovery of salmon and trout populations is a cooperative effort among Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Olympic National Park, NOAA Fisheries, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and WDFW. Each year project partners evaluate spawner abundance, distribution, and juvenile production throughout the river system using a variety of tools including sonar, redd surveys, snorkel surveys, tangle net surveys and smolt trapping.

Successful restoration of Elwha fish populations is measured by the abundance, productivity, diversity, and spatial distribution of fish. Positive signs of salmon recovery are being observed in the Elwha River. After final obstacles to fish migration were removed from the Glines Canyon dam site in 2016, fisheries biologists have confirmed that adult Chinook salmon, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, winter and summer steelhead, bull trout, pink salmon and Pacific lamprey have migrated upstream past that site, with some adults reaching as high as river mile 40 in the Elwha. Chum salmon have been documented upstream of the former Elwha Dam site but not yet above the Glines Canyon Dam site. Recent increases in the egg to smolt survival of Chinook salmon are also encouraging but have not yet led to substantial increases in abundance of natural-origin adults.

Future fisheries will be developed in a manner consistent with the long-term recovery objectives for the Elwha River. The Elwha Tribe, WDFW, and Olympic National Park continue to explore options to provide fishing opportunities which are consistent with recovery goals for the Elwha watershed. Recreational and commercial fishing will resume when there is broad distribution of spawning adults in newly accessible habitats upstream of the former dam sites, when spawning occurs at a rate that allows for population growth and diversity, and when there is a harvestable surplus of fish returning to the Elwha River. While there are positive signs of recovery, some fish populations remain low and the lack of habitat use in the upper reach of the river indicates that further recolonization and spatial expansion are needed to reach population levels capable of supporting sustainable fisheries.

Due to the adverse effects of poaching on the successful and timely recovery of salmon in the Elwha, we encourage the public to report any illegal fishing to law enforcement at: WDFW, 360-902-2936, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, 360-452-6759, and Olympic National Park 360-565-3115. For updated fishing regulations on waters within Olympic National Park, please visit nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/fishing.htm. For waters outside the Park, please visit wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/regulations/.
 

fishbadger

Just Hatched
Thanks for posting. At least the closures are getting shorter in duration til the next closure. Mixed feelings on this one. . .as much as I'd like to wet a line there, when it opens up I suspect it will get the living sh!t gillnetted out of it.
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Buzzy

I prefer to call them strike indicators.
Forum Supporter
When I was just a pup, you know, 10 or 11 years old, my grandpa stopped is car in the middle of the old one lane bridge where we got out for a look at the Elwha below us. Grandpa told stories of when he was a young pup with his dad, hand lining big Chinook and that he remembered seeing fish pushing 100 pounds. Wouldn't it be an amazing recovery if somehow those missing genetics came back to the Elwha for our kids, grandkids and great grandkids to see?

One fourth of July, my wife and I were hanging with Steve and Suzanne on the Elwha - just upstream of that old one lane bridge. Steve was goofing around with a trout rod when he hooked a nice summer run. Maybe someday we'll get that chance again.
 

Gyrfalcon22

Life of the Party
Fished it several times from 1984 on in the upper headwaters of ONP. The trout were very nice and the scenery pretty..but just to make sure the legend has not overgrown the mystery, I found just as nice trout in other rivers in the headwaters in all the ranges in WA state. Now, prior to the 1970's it might have been different..plus, I am not a great angler, truly. It was very lonesome and wild way back when. Saw 3 parties in 4 days the first trip.

More bear than people is always a winning trip.

Hope it stays closed if it is working as a natural hatchery to some exciting runs ! Great news when the dams were coming down even if it meant closing the watershed. Heck, with the internet and people as they are now, the place would have been an over-run zoo.
 
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gpt

Smolt
the lower Elwha S'Klallam statement is a joke. they would not support dam removal until we the people spent well over a million building them a new hatchery. and they were to put in a fish weir on the lower river to sort clipped and unclipped. they were given permission to retain all the clipped fish they came up with for tribal use or sale. but, they decided after a year of doing this, it was too much work. so the Elwha is now a mixed stock river that was never intended. this tribe simply refused to help out and everyone needs to understand their lack of cooperation. i think they need to refund the federal government for the expense of building that hatchery!!
 
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