My suspicion is the Tribes fought the gill net ban harder than the cowboys. It being seen as a domino.. If NT gill nets are banned, then the Tribes would look pretty darn hypocritical as "environmental leaders" being the only one's still employing non-selective gear.

I find it interesting, that in reading about the history of native peoples traditional fishing methods, gill nets are near non existent. As a matter of fact, fishing was a community effort, where the entire community gathered to "build fish weirs and traps". Far cry from what we see today.

Point is, Gill nets are NOT selective and KILL ESA listed fish. It's dumb to continue to point out statistics that sportsmen kill just as many using selective gear, when in reality it is all just guesswork.

Everyone who harvests fish should abide by the same laws. If a water is designated as "selective gear" for one group, then it should be equally designated for ALL!