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Testimony on Chehalis River basin - July 14, 1993 



Prepared by Geoff Lebon, Washington Trailers Association 



These conditions are exasperated even further by the poor water conditions within 

 the lower Grays Harboi estuary. This is seen from the low salmon survival rate of 

 downstream migrants passing through the estuary during low spring runoff years vs. 

 higher rates during times of high spring runoffs which through dilution create a higher 

 level of water quaiiiy. In order to overcome the above mentioned problems, we must 

 increase the quality of the water within the Grays Harbor estuary. 



There is now, and always has been, another major contributor to the decline of 

 salmon within the Chehalis basin: POACHING. Poaching is nearly out of control within 

 the Chehalis basin. While trying to broodstock for native coho during the fall of 1992, we 

 could not beat the poachers to the salmon. There were tens of people fishing in the areas 

 of the spawning bars, while just downstream where it was legal to fish, few people were 

 fishing. In talking to the enforcement agents of the Washington Department of Fisheries, 

 we were told that just ten years ago they had ten enforcement agents for Grays Harbor 



County. During the 1992 spawning season they had just one They simply did not have 

 the manpower to pursue the illegal activities we were witnessing. Unfortunately, many 

 poachers do not just use hook and lines, but rather resort to gillnets and other detrimental 

 techniques. 



The Skagit River, although not part of the Chehalis basin, has many of the same 

 problems. It has a depleted coho run that may even be a candidate for ESA listing and a 

 watershed with severe habitat problems. A Washington Department of Fisheries official 

 confided that in the spawning season of 1 989, as a run or native coho headed for its natal 

 stream, it was temporarily delayed by low flows. Before the next rain arrived, about 80% 

 of this run had been poached out. The Department of Fisheries knew about this 

 situation but did not have the enforcement capabilities to handle the problem. 



The Chehalis basin is no different. In working in the rivers, I could make a decent 

 living writing tickets from the illegal fishing activity I alone have run into. It is not 

 uncommon to have people drive up to your house with illegal fish in the back of their 

 pickups and attempt to sell you the fish! 



The U.S. Government can dump millions of dollars into the Chehalis Basin and 

 they can do a fine job of rebuilding and solving the habitat problems, but it will fail unless 

 you protect the fish that are striving to spawn within that same habitat that you 

 have just allocated tax dollars to reclaim. 



