Another, more pressing question is: What role is the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) play in the approval process for permits.

It is because the tribal permit requests are sent first to the BIA, that their permits get fast tracked through NOAA. Since having the BIA in the tribal "approval" chain creates a nexus of "multi-federal agencies" and therefor qualifies for fast tracking.

The state does not have the additional step of passing it's permit application through another federal agency before submission to NOAA, therefor, the states permits go on the bottom of the stack. Taking months if not years for approval.

This, then has lead to the the practice of the state asking the tribes if we can "piggy back" our permit request on theirs in order to have the states looked at by NOAA at the same time, and have approval done in time to have a season.

Consequently, it sets up a "quid pro quo" scenario in the North of Falcon negotiations. Even if it is not said, it is understood, that IF the state does not AGREE with what tribal negotiators offer, then the state CANNOT piggy back on the tribal permits! Which, of course means, the states permit application goes to the bottom of the stack at NOAA. The result...the Tribes fish, the state waits for permit approval for months if not years.

So, this brings us back to original question: What role does the BIA have in the approval process? Having sent several request to the Director of the Bureau, and receiving no reply to our request. And not having any satisfactory answer from anyone associated with WDFW, nor the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, I suppose we will have to wait for the lawsuit to find out.

If the BIA were not in the approval chain for the tribes, the playing field would be a little more level...and isn't that how "Co-management" is supposed to work?