[quote=Rivrguy
Frankly other than staff spoon feed us information I do not know what more could have been done to make us understand just how dire the situation has become. This is a tide water / bay harvest issue and frankly must be addressed as such. What should not happen is the upper basin community be punished for the continuing over harvest of Coho by tide water and bay fisheries be it QIN, NT Commercial. or Rec. [/quote]
It's really easy to go after the low hanging fruit on the tree, bay and tidal fishers whether they be tribal, NT comm. or rec, when the reality is most of the fish (60 to 80% are the current number, I believe) are taken by Alaska and B.C. Not to mention the fact that all of "our fish" are taken by rec fishers from Alaska to Grey's Harbor and beyond. To state that we are the problem locally and shutting us down is going to make the decline go away is absurd. That solution is ridiculous when you consider that the Nisqually steelhead have NEVER returned to significant numbers in spite a a total shut down of the fishery to both tribal and rec. fishing for 20 to 30 years or more.
Unless comm. harvest is curtailed (which is NEVER going to happen while any meaningful amount of fish are there) the fish are doomed. But shutting locals down is the easiest thing to do, just ask the state. Curtailing seasons with minimal harvest this year and last year did not make numbers magically rise as a result. Most fisherfolk we spoke to and saw last year and this year did poorly as a general rule. We should be the LAST people to be shut down after all other interests are shut down, other than tribal. Unfortunately they (tribal) would be the only comm. harvesters left. That's what had to happen with game animals and that's the way it should be. But that's not going to happen in our lifetimes so we have boats that will take us wherever and whatever type of fish are still available to catch and will advocate for our right to do so.