After receiving the latest model showing Chehalis Chinook NOT making escapement I felt compelled to object to the Director, Commission, and staff.


Morning,

After reviewing the model it is clear that when I asked at the last ZOOM NOF Grays Harbor with all out effort to cram more NT Commercial time would we make Chinook escapement staff replied yes. Adding both wild and hatchery numbers it is clear you have an problem. The escapement goal is 9754 for wild Chinook an adding in the expected hatchery escapement the model shows 9066 Chinook to the gravel. In other words you were not truthful and I will stick with untruthful but others may choose other words. Director Susewind this thing with the Quinault Nation has been going on for a long time. Many times I have been present when agency employees refer to the non-treaty gillnetters as “our commercials”. Director Susewind we have three commercial net seasons in this basin. They are Chehalis Tribal non treaty, treaty Quinault Nation, and the state non treaty commercial fishers and frankly most folks could careless about the race or ethnicity which WDFW keeps inserting into the conversation simply by their actions. This needs to end!

In the last two years Region 6 staff have literally violated the GH Policy on harvest sharing in about every way possible, attacked the inriver fisher for using catch and release for Chinook which is legal, and shut down huge portions of the Rec fishers for conservation under premise of low flows stacking the fish up ( I provided a video showing this was untrue ) which by the manner you did so placed the so called conservation burden on the bank fishery who are usually folks who cannot afford a boat or are simply poor. The bias in Region 6 toward the inriver Rec fisher is simply appalling. The continuing whatever between the Quinault Nation and WDFW staff needs to end as the fish and the Chehalis communities cannot afford it any longer.

Director and Commissioners I urge you to find a third party to bring both the Quinault Nation and WDFW staff together to moderate a discussion to put and end to this ongoing issue between the two parties as it is clear they lack the will, desire, or ability to do so on their own.



From: Grays Harbor (DFW) <graysharbor@dfw.wa.gov>
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2023 3:34 PM
Subject: Updated 2023 Grays Harbor planning model B

To all interested Grays Harbor parties,

Please see the attached updated 2023 Grays Harbor planning model B. The model you received on Tuesday, March 11th has been updated to reflect the changes in the commercial schedule that were discussed at yesterday evenings meeting. This change was made after the commercial sector reviewed the model and asked staff to reduce the fishery by one day in week 43 and allow for the use of 6.5” mesh net. Also, the attached Word file includes the tables from the “2023 Summary Table” tab in the attached planning model.

Please let staff know if you have any questions.