Yep. And that's going to get even worse with the proposed Co-Manager Hatchery Policy being considered by the commission and WDFW for adoption later this year. Reading through it, it basically sounds like the tribes will have control over which programs are increased or decreased, what science is used, and basically not allowing any changes to any programs unless the tribes approve.

I do agree that some tribes can actually operate a functional hatchery that returns fish better than Cunningham and his programs can (and I welcome that in some places), but frankly that's a low bar.

However, with this added control by the tribes to operate WDFW hatchery programs, I only anticipate this removes any remaining leverage the state has in future NOF when it comes to harvest.