Salmo g,
It would be great if we could give the Native Americans $1.25 a pound for not fishing but it won't happen I'm afraid. Why? Because it's a way of life for them to fish. Most don't have a 9 to 5 job that they commute to every day, this is their life and heritage. Would we as avid sportsmen stay off the rivers and not fish if they offered us a $1.25 a pound for what our last years punch card said we caught? No because we love to fish for Steelhead and love to be out on the river just as they do.

I see the only answer is give them the insentive to use fish traps where they can make $3 to 3.50 a pound for hatchery fish caught in an environmentally friendly way.
Their is a market for this type of fish the high end markets and resteraunts can advertise this fish as enviromentally caught and sell it a much larger profit than any fish they sell now.

This could be accomplished by federal funding for the traps, (they fund a lot of the gill nets now). Fish would have to be fin clipped to qualify and this would encourage that all hatchery fish State and Tribe clip fins.
I've been working in the past on getting info on how the supermarket and restraunt associations feel about this idea and it's not been a formal yes but they really like the idea. As for the Native Americans I have not formally talked to them as I do not have any formal paper work to present as of yet.

By netting with a communnitty fish trap for each river and tribe would ensure that they got thier 50% of hatchery fish and give everyone a better idea of what is really comming into the rivers as all wild fish could be counted.
I see capitalism here at its best by giving these fishermen a good profit for what they are entitled to and a chance to save wild Steelhead and Salmon. It is my hope to get some formal work done on this and present it to the WSC to evaluate in the future.

Remember the reason why the Native American will not use the fish trap now is that they would still get 70 cents a pound as the system is set up now. As you can see there is no insentive at all.
Latter
Steve