“When the Tide Is Out, the Table Is Set”

While the majority of tribal Sea Cucumber harvesters are divers, management agreements permit a trawl fishery as well. Lummi Natural Resources requires that all trawl Sea Cucumber fisheries have an on-board monitor who records all incidental catch. Data from monitors is used to estimate local Sea Cucumber popula- NATURAL RESOURCES DEPARTMENT Sea Cucumbers are caught tions through analysis of Sea primarily by Divers Cucumber catch rates, as HARVEST MANAGEMENT

well as ensuring that by-catch rates are below permitted thresholds. SHELLFISH SCIENCE

GEODUCK CLAMS Recently Lummi has provided deep versus shallow water Geoduck clam samples to the University of Washington for gonad analysis and aging. This is an effort to answer questions about the reproductive potential of Geoducks that live in water deeper than can cur- rently be harvested commercially. If deep-water Geoducks NATURAL RESOURCES are not able to reproduce then DEPARTMENT “When the tide is out, they cannot re-seed depleted Harvest Management shallower water areas. 2616 Kwina Road the table is set” Bellingham, WA 98226 -Traditional Saying Phone: 360-384-2202 Fax: 360-384-4737 If you have any questions about Harvest Management E-mail: [email protected] at Lummi, please contact Alan Chapman at 360-384- 2202 SPOT SHRIMP

HARVEST MANAGEMENT: SHELLFISH SCIENCE Spot Shrimp are a popular target for commercial and non-commercial fishermen alike. Despite the Lummi fishermen harvest many forms of sea- MANILA long history of Spot Shrimp fishing, however, some life, including Dungeness crab, Spot Shrimp, basic questions about their life history remain unan- CLAMS Manila clams, Sea Cucumbers, Sea Urchins, and swered. Without this information there is uncer- Geoduck clams. tainty over how we can best maximize harvest op- Over 100 tribal members portunities while still ensuring the sustainability of Management of these resources is based on the harvest Manila clams the fishery. best available science to ensure the sustainability commercially. Lummi of the resource. Lummi Natural Resources is Lummi Natural Re- conducts annual popula- directly involved in conducting scientific studies sources performs fish- tion surveys on over and surveys to provide managers with informa- ery-independent pre- 1,600 Acres of on- Clam survey crew ready for another day tion that is critical for good decision making. season and post-season reservation tidelands and of clam surveying index surveys to evalu- also a further 40-50 acres DUNGENESS CRAB ate the health of the at some important off-reservation harvest areas such as Birch Bay State Park, or Semiahmoo / Drayton Harbor. fishery. By using Spot Shrimp start life as males, Adult Dungeness crabs lose identical gear in then turn into females as they get their hard outer shell once a Computer analysis exactly the same older, but do they die after just one breeding season as females? year so that they can grow big- of the clam survey locations each time, information, along Dungeness Crab: ger (this is a process called we can use catch-per Lummi’s most molting). Molting leaves crabs with data for clam -pot data to assess year-class strength, as well as to economically valu- soft and easily damaged until growth and survival, evaluate what impact the fishery has on the stock. In able fishery today. their new shell can harden up Manila Clams marked for a growth and allows us to map particular, the number of females per pot is useful again. survival experiment in Lummi Bay clam distributions, to determine how many females remain to breed calculate total popu- after the fishery is closed. To avoid inadvertently damaging soft-shell crab lation sizes, and estimate sustainable harvest levels so that We also use specialized GIS computer software to (by trapping soft-shell crabs in pots with hard the resource is maintained for future generations. crabs or by handling stress), Lummi conducts model Spot Shrimp habitat so that we can someday several shell condition tests each year prior to Lummi also obtains samples of clams and oysters for bio- estimate the potential of different management opening a management area for harvest. Har- toxin testing to avoid any risk from naturally occurring areas for sustainable harvest. vesting only begins once 80% of the legal sized seasonal problems caused by harmful algal blooms (e.g., Dungeness crabs in an area are hard. The timing red tide). of molting depends on the exact area but typi- cally occurs during late-winter or spring.

Lummi’s Shellfish biolo- gist heading out to test crab shell condition in the Georgia Strait. Computer model of Spot Shrimp habitat in the San Juan Islands