Bay Wolf-

I appreciate what you and all the others are attempting to fix what is clearly a broken NOF process; which by the way has broken from its very first days.

However the seasons that we see at the end of this year's process are not the result of that broken process but rather two other much larger issues that we the fishers (whether tribal, commercial, or recreational) largely ignore. As begin the 3rd decade of managing fisheries targeting ESA listed PS Chinook it is clear that recovery efforts of those Chinook have failed miserably. It is also clear that society has spoken quite loudly that using ESA impacts to support fishing is of the lowest priorities of all possible uses.

The Stillaguamish Chinook have become the poster child of those recovery failures and what we saw this year is the new reality of Puget Sound Chinook fisheries. For those Chinook the combination of poor freshwater and marine survivals have made the Stillaguamish tribal conservation hatchery program essential for the continued existence of that listed population.

From my perspective any chance of reversing those realities is dependent on the all the fishers (tribal and non-tribal) uniting with a common voice and goal. Every year that chances of that occurring is less probable.

Curt