As far back as 1980 Tribes were pushing to fish when the sporties were fishing. At that time, they didn't want to fish for the same fish but wanted to fish for what they wanted. Later on, I have seen situations when a Tribe had no harvest remaining but told the state "if you fish, we fish". Since the Tribes generally (I have seen exceptions) will not fish selectively this puts the burden of conservation on the fish.

The State is faced with the choice of providing a justifiable fishery that results in over harvest or just staying closed. I also suspect that WDFW has been told not to take the Tribes to court.