Management Biologist

Volunteers Sought for Tribal Crab Study

Suquamish shellfish biologist Paul Williams shows Jean Walat, volunteer coordinator for the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, how to catch juvenile crabs with a bag of mesh scrubbers.
Suquamish shellfish biologist Paul Williams shows Jean Walat, volunteer coordinator for the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, how to catch juvenile crabs with a bag of mesh scrubbers.

The instrument is quite simple to use – attach a mesh bag filled with mesh kitchen scrubbers to a small buoy and place the contraption in Puget Sound. Although simple in construction, this technique for capturing baby crab has been utilized successfully worldwide for a long time.

Fortunately for tribal biologists, once post-larval crabs are ready to settle, they will grab a hold of the first thing that provides enough texture for them to hold onto. By placing the scrubbers along the nearshore, the goal is to capture a subsample of the crab as they wash towards the shore to settle. Thus, with a little luck, when the buoy is pulled 24 hours later, there will be dozens of young Dungeness crabs larvae attached.

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Suquamish Hopes for Early-Timed Chinook Run At Gorst Soon

A Gorst Hatchery juvenile chinook before being released into Gorst Creek.

In a few years, fishermen might be able to hit the water for chinook in Sinclair Inlet a month earlier than they can now.

Hatchery chinook generally return to the inlet near Gorst in August and September. An effort to expand the run timing would have fish swimming into Sinclair Inlet in July. (more…)

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Squaxin Island Tribe Tracking Coho in Sherwood Creek

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ALLYN – A pair of smolt traps is helping the Squaxin Island Tribe get a better picture of natural salmon production in the Sherwood Creek watershed.

“The Sherwood watershed is one of the most complicated systems in the tribe’s treaty-reserved fishing area,” said Joe Peters, fisheries management biologist for the Squaxin Island Tribe. Tribal biologists are unsure about how many coho are rearing annually in Shumacher Creek, a tributary to Sherwood Creek, which flows into Mason Lake. Sherwood Creek flows out of Mason Lake.

One smolt trap – a safe and effective devices for catching and counting juvenile salmon as they migrate to sea – is installed at the mouth of Schumacher Creek in the upper watershed just above Mason Lake. Another is operating near the mouth of Sherwood Creek close to where it enters Puget Sound.
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Puyallup Tribe’s new tracking method points to smaller elk herd size

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PACKWOOD – The South Rainier elk herd is smaller than previously thought, according to a new population model developed by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians.

“Our results point to a herd size of about 900. That’s about 1,100 fewer animals than a previous estimate by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife,” said Barbara Moeller, wildlife management biologist with the Puyallup Tribe. The tribal target population for the herd is 2,100. (more…)

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Sport fishermen benefit from short tribal fishery

Sharp cuts in fishing by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians this year will allow sport fishermen to start fishing for chinook on the Puyallup River two weeks early. "The tribe is going to be off the water more this year to reduce impacts on returning chinook, and this gave more opportunity for sport fishermen," said Chris Phinney, the tribe's salmon fisheries management biologist. The cuts by the tribe were agreed to last spring during the tribal and state salmon fisheries management process.

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Puyallup Tribal News: Elders to fish first

Puyallup Tribal News:

A special fishing season for tribal elders takes place next month. From June 10 to June 13, the river will be open for elders to fish for ceremonial and subsistence use from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Chris Phinney, harvest management biologist for the Puyallup Tribe's Fisheries/Hatchery Department, explained the rules in place. This special fishing season is open only to Puyallup Tribal members aged 50 and older. There will be no helpers allowed and no exceptions to the rules, he said. "They have to be tribal elders to be on the river."

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Tribes Work To Restore Native Olympia Oysters

SKOKOMISH (June 19, 2003) — Sunk in mud and nearly hip-deep in water, Eric Sparkman pulls a large oyster shell from a saltwater pond and begins to take measurements. It’s not the dimensions of the shell Sparkman is looking to note, it’s the size of what’s living on the shell he’s after.

“There’s several Olympia oysters living on this one, five or six, and they’re all pretty small,” said Sparkman, shellfish biologist for the Skokomish Tribe. “But they are alive and they are slowly growing, and that’s really what counts.”

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