HOOK AND FUR: State hopes anglers catch escaped salmon

By Bob Brown

State salmon managers continue to encourage anglers to fish for Atlantic salmon that recently escaped from a net pen that failed at Cypress Island.
About 305,000 salmon were in a pen when it failed, but it was estimated only 4,000 to 5,000 fish escaped.
Cypress Island lies along Rosario Strait between Guemes and Blakely islands.
There is no size or catch limit on Atlantic salmon. However, anglers may only fish for Atlantic salmon in marine waters that are already open to fishing for Pacific salmon, or freshwater areas that are open for trout fishing. Also, anglers must stop fishing for Atlantic salmon once they have caught their daily limit of Pacific salmon. Anglers don't have to report Atlantic salmon on their catch record cards.

Another wolf pack in trouble

Ferry County’s Sherman wolf pack is destined to be the second of the state’s 20 wolf packs to have one or more of its members removed by lethal action this year.
It appears Sherman pack members have been involved in four documented incidents of attacking livestock in eastern Washington since mid-June. At least three calves have been killed and one injured by members of the pack, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW).
The pack was initially estimated to have just two members, including one fitted with a tracking collar. However, a survey taken last winter indicated there were five members.
Donny
Martorello, WDFW's lead wolf manager, said the department’s response to the Sherman pack’s predation "is consistent with Washington’s Wolf Management Plan of 2011, which authorizes the department to take actions to address repeated attacks on livestock. The purpose of this action is to change the pack’s behavior, while also meeting the state’s wolf-conservation goals. That means incrementally removing wolves and assessing the results before further action.”
That is the same approach the department took when it removed two members of the Smackout pack in Stevens County. Since taking that action in late June, WDFW hasn't documented any further incidencts of wolves from the Smackout pack preying on livestock.
According to state surveys, Washington's wolf population is growing at the rate of about 30 percent each year.

New Fish and Wildlife Commission member

Governor Jay Inslee recently appointed Don McIsaac to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission for a term ending in December 2022. The new commission member replaces Miranda Wecker, who stepped down.
McIsaac is a retired director of the west coast regional fishery management council (2000 to 2016). The council oversees fisheries management in the ocean three to 200 miles off the Pacific coast.
McLsaac previously worked for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the then-Washington Department of Fisheries. He lives in rural Clark County.
Inslee also reappointed commission member Larry Carpenter of Mount Vernon through December 2018. Carpenter was initially appointed to the commission in 2011 and currently serves as vice chairman.

Bob Brown lives in Roy and is a freelance outdoors writer. He can be contacted at robertb1285@centurylink.net.