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by 1877, were using fiBh traps (GHRPC 1992) downstream of Indian weirs to 

 supply a salmon cannery. Thus began the conflict between upriver and downriver 

 fisheries that continues even to some degree today. 



Later, fish traps were built along the shores of Grays Harbor; next, Grays 

 Harbor gillnetters jumped ahead of the trap fishery by exploiting open waters 

 of the Harbor (Wendler and Deschamps 1955b). By 1892, when the commercial 

 catch was first reported (WDF, unpub. records), set and drift gillnetting were 

 legally recognized along with trapping. By 1934, harvests had declined and 

 the trap and eetnet fisheries were outlawed, apparently to stabilize harvest 

 (Wendler and Deschamps 1955b). 



In the 1950s, nylon gillnets were introduced and quickly replaced cotton and 

 linen nets, making the Grays Harbor drift gillnet fishery more efficient. 



In 1974, the Federal Court ruled that western Washington tribes having signed 

 treaties with the United States in the 1850s reserved half the harvestable 

 fish passing through their usual and accustomed — that is, historic -- 

 fishing grounds (for example, see Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission 1989). 

 This resulted in a reallocation of catch by a reduction in mixed-stock, open- 

 ocean fisheries and increased terminal area returnB and stream-by-stream 

 fishery management throughout western Washington (Dr. Percy Washington, Gaia 

 Inc., pers. comm.). Locally, it also led to expansion of Quinault tribal 

 fisheries off the Quinault reservation and onto Grays Harbor and the 

 Humptulips and Chehalis rivers (Hiss et ai. 1982). 



Marine Interception 



Virtually all fishing on Chehalis Basin salmon originally occurred inside the 

 Basin, but, around 1935, fishing boats were fitted with economical diesel 

 motors. Trollers began to exploit the mixed stocks in the ocean (Wendler and 

 Deschamps 1955b). Boats could now easily run to ocean fishing grounds and 

 intercept fish before the runs reached Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and the 

 Columbia River. The ocean troll fishery increased tenfold from 1940 to 1970 

 (Grays Harbor Regional Planning Commission 1992). This resulted in loss of 

 harvest control by local managers (Washington 1988 draft). In the late 1940s, 

 charterboats joined trollers in the marine fishery. By 1950, WDF began 

 keeping catch records from this fleet. The fleet continued to grow steadily 

 and peaked in 1977 (Ward and Hoines 1985). 



As ocean fleets developed at all Pacific coast ports, Chehalis Basin Chinook 

 and coho were caught off the coasts of Alaska, Canada, and Oregon as well as 

 Washington (now known from coded-wire tagging data). Prior to 1976, 

 individual states managed marine fisheries. But, in that year, the Magnuson 

 Fishery Conservation and Management Act created the Pacific Fishery Management 

 Council, with the duty of setting fishing seasons and limits for marine waters 

 between 3 and 200 miles off the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington. 



However, the Act did not address the issue of Canadian interceptions. The 

 Pacific Salmon Commission (PSC) was formed in 1985, as a result of the Pacific 

 Salmon Treaty between the United States and Canada, to prevent overfishing, 



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