Westport Charterboat Association awarded for salmon-monitoring efforts

Received Dept of Fish and Wildlife’s Organization of the Year award in Olympia May 16

May 28, 2018 7:00 pm
PHOTO COURTESY STATE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE Jonathan Sawin, captain of the charter boat <em>Cormorant</em> out of Westport Charters, accepts the State Department of Fish and Wildlifes Organization of the Year award from the departments deputy director Amy Windrope at a ceremony May 16. Sawin accepted on behalf of the Westport Charterboat Association for their salmon monitoring efforts.
PHOTO COURTESY STATE DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE Jonathan Sawin, captain of the charter boat Cormorant out of Westport Charters, accepts the State Department of Fish and Wildlifes Organization of the Year award from the departments deputy director Amy Windrope at a ceremony May 16. Sawin accepted on behalf of the Westport Charterboat Association for their salmon monitoring efforts.

The Westport Charterboat Association has been presented with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife Organization of the Year award for its work to monitor salmon, accounting for nearly half of the salmon data provided by volunteers coastwide this past year.

The data are used to determine overall impacts on salmon populations in “mark-selective” ocean salmon fisheries. Mark-selective fisheries target salmon produced and marked at hatcheries to provide fish for harvest while supporting conservation of naturally spawning populations, said fish biologist Wendy Beeghley.

“Over the past three years the Westport Charterboat Association skippers have really stepped up to help gather the data we need, supporting our science and management objectives in ways that are both economically efficient and effective,” said Beeghley.

Data provided by the skippers and crews on both marked and non-marked fish have increased the department’s knowledge about salmon mark rates among all the salmon caught, including impacts of mark-selective salmon fisheries on unmarked populations.

The award was presented to Jonathan Sawin, a member of the charterboat association and captain of the Cormorant out of Westport Charters, by Fish and Wildlife deputy director Amy Windrope at a ceremony May 16 in Olympia.