Trash litters river during sport season

Photo by clare jensen

RIVER DEBRIS. Tribal member and fisherman Taza Reed holds up a tangled bunch of fishing line and hooks he pulled from the Puyallup River after his boat got snagged in the mess. Growing numbers of sports fishermen have added to such debris and increased trash and litter left along the river banks.

During a fishing season with historically high turnouts of sports fishermen, the banks of the Puyallup River have seen better days.

Increased bodies means increased waste and debris that has started to litter the Puyallup, which could begin to have negative effects on the natural habitat for salmon.

Puyallup Tribe is currently in negotiations with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife to begin work on a solution to this problem, whether it is providing ample trash receptacles and sanitation cans, or potentially limiting the number of fishermen allowed on the river at a time.

“It’s come to the point where (fishermen) are practically on top of each other,” Tribal Councilmember Nancy Shippentower-Games said. “They’re eroding and polluting the environment so badly that one day there won’t be any fish coming up.”

Tribal and sport fishermen have already seen a decrease in salmon returns along the Puyallup, as well as a loss of water flow on the river’s path.

Tribal member Taza Reed has lived on the Puyallup River for years, and has been fishing on the Puyallup for more than 25 years. He has watched the river’s environment change decade by decade.

“You can see where the water used to run, and it doesn’t exist anymore,” he said. Less water and a lower river means the build up of hooks and fishing lines discarded in the water are more likely to snag fishing boats as they drift along. “Because the bottom (of the river bank) is showing up so much more, it’s easier to create snags. There are always going to be some snags…log debris in the river, but a lot of this is the fishing lines and illegal hooks out there…it creates a hazard for us.”

And with a lower flow, less salmon and more fishermen vying for a catch, the impact on the environment increases dramatically. Many recreational fishermen have been urinating and discarding trash and waste right on the riverbanks because of a lack of waste bins and proper restroom facilities.

“I get tired of picking garbage out of my net. I don’t know where it all comes from. A lot of it is now, people just don’t care,” Reed said. “It’s frustrating when you see the habitat disappearing…you see so many people with a lack of respect for the river. They just look at the water; they don’t feel the water.”

A sanitation can and a waste bin are available for fishermen during tribal fishing seasons, which ran from Aug. 30 to Oct. 15 for Coho, and re-opened on Nov. 8 through Dec. 29 for Chum.

But those waste receptacle options do not come close to adequately servicing the vast numbers of sports fishermen who are on the river from July through February.

After the river is closed to fishing for the year, the tribe and other volunteer clean-up crews attempt to pick up the remaining debris that has accumulated over the season.

“We go out there every year to clean up, usually in March,” Shippentower-Games said. “But the state needs to take responsibility. Since they’re selling the licenses to the recreational fishermen, they should take the responsibility and help us create a clean environment.”

In the meantime, a simple solution would be for every person who visits the river to pack out the garbage they bring in, just as is required in many state parks and other natural habitats.

“We have a crowding of people that we’ve never seen before. I just don’t think people are aware how much debris and garbage is left behind after sports season,” Reed said. “A couple of people go down there and help clean up, but a couple of people can’t clean up the mess of thousands.”

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