Larry,
I am a bit worried about what is going down in area 11. The tribe has been crabbing for some time there, so the abundance levels should be fairly clear. If the numbers are coming in low, the state has had plenty of time to put a stop to it. They did reduce there initial goal, but that was some time ago. The lack of an announcement leads me to believe they are waiting for the tribe to finish to see what the abundance was like and how much is left for the recreational fishery. I would not be surprised to see a very reduced availability with the recreational side being allocated much less than what the tribes get. This is not the way it should be happening. At very least, the recs should get an increased share next year if the tribe over takes their share, as the tribe crabbed on their own without an agreement in place.
I concur with your concerns. The reason that the tribe took their unilateral action was that WDFW really didn't want a season this year in large part due to low numbers of recruitment age crab. However, once the Puyallups took that unilateral action it upped the ante.
Subsequent negotiations reduced the total quota a bit. The scenario you pointed out where the tribe (which did the test fishery used for negotiations) has its fishery first does, in fact, have the potential for taking more than 50% of the harvestable crab if the total quota was too high in the first place. But to try and prove that in an effort to gain a pay back in future season(s) would certainly be futile.
But if tribal fishers actually harvest more than their half of the quota then, yes, there should be a payback to the State in the next season.
And that is how the ball bounces......
Previous Topic
Index
