I'm elated to see that the "sportsman's" picture of the commercial fisherman has not changed one bit. The sportsmen need to be aware that all commercial fishermen are greedy, watershed destroying trolls who leave a path of unregulated destruction and dead fish in thier oily, garbage enrshounded wakes. The damn commercials are ten times worse than the sportsmen who never ever think about leaving bait cups, miles of discarded fishing line, beer cans, and other very sightly and beautifull heaps of trash for others to enjoy on our rivers, lakes and, estuaries. Sportsmen would never think of yarding a wild fish onto a gravel bar and tearing hooks out just prior to kicking it back into the water to continue it's spawning journey would they? And those thousands of outboards puking oil and gas mix into our coastal and inland waters? Not even a problem for guys so pure and pristine! Can't say any 18 foot Alumaweld with a jet pump ever tore up a redd on a river.
As far as contributions back to the economy, commercials probablly never paid a damn dime into our government coffers. Twenty-eight percent tax brackets amount to chump change as do state licencing fees. These guys are no good all the way around. They don't contribute DICK to any economy, especially Westport's in the summer. The landing fees from millions of pounds of shrimp, crab, and tuna, and oh yeah even a scant few salmon don't have any type of impact on an area that just whines and pants year long for the sportsmen to flock to town and bail them out of thier pitifull existence. Thank God for all of the Seattle/Tacoma residents who save the Grays Harbor/Willapa area every year!
Actually, it would be very interesting to see what would happen if Boeing, PACCAR, and the rest of the major industries in the urban areas would have the rug pulled out from under them for various reasons. Possibly some good ole' voter intitiatives would force them to leave town and see how the recipiants of those actions would feel about not having a viable income for supporting thier families. I bet there wouldn't be hordes of new Powerstrokes towing sleds and Arimas past Montesano every Friday and Sunday.
Look, I agree that conservation is of the utmost importance now. But before everyone jumps on the I-695 bandwagon and hangs the commercials in effigy (some of the more rabid sporties would go for the real thing) why can't you look at the statisics of the last 8-10 years and see that the commercial (non-treaty) fishermen are not the culprits. Have you looked at the amount of actual fishing time commercials recieve now? The Willapa, Grays Harbor,Columbia, and Puget Sound get to fish a tiny fraction of the time (during periods preceeding or after the bulk of any in-question run is not around) that thier impact is minimal on protected fish. The commercials pay taxis and licence fees. They are entitled to a share of the fish just as the sports groups. What, you think you'll catch more fish if the commercial killer nets are all drawn out of the water? The sportsmen's success rate wouldn't bump up enough to notice. If you read your fishing and hunting news they'd tell you in black and white that only a potion of the fish bite (isn't everything Shangle prints the God-given truth?) The commercials don't have the impact that they had in the 70's or 80's. They HAVE NO FISHING TIME! GAWD, give it a rest, look at the time alotted and look at what the sportsmen get as opposed to the commercials. Case in point, the springer fishery in the Columbia last spring resulted in less than the 6000 fish quota set for the commercials in the few days they got to fish. The state shut it off when there was a remote chance of them coming near to or going over the quota...very tightly regulated. But all I could hear in the early season was *****ing and whining about them damn nets are choking off the run. Well, what happened? Weren't Ya'll happy with yer big ole' stringers of fish?!!! What, you want more???? Well, my friends, quit beating a dead horse and figure out how to stop the point of impact fishing IN our rivers. Stop wearing the tread off your Nike's and stop bolstering Bic's bottom line running around getting thousands of signatures to stop them damn gillnetters and their foul ways. Yes, they are the most visible deterrent to saving our salmon. But, ever looked at the cycles of returns over the last 50 years? Ever considered what oceanic conditions might mean to our run's heath. Ever considered what conditions preclude a good outrun of smolt from our rivers? Based on what I've heard on this board and from the mouths of other sports groups( Joe Shangle and the anti-tangle rhetoric) most are way to uninformed to be blathering about the evil ways of todays commercials. Try educating the hordes on how to C&R a wild salmon or stealhead (no, kicking it up on the bank is not correct, nor is putting it in an unnatural position in a dipnet, picking it out by the gills or tail, tearing out the hooks and tossing it back in the crick good for survival, sure didn't see any of that on the lower Columbia last spring), and possibly teaching some of the "sporties" to pick up trash would be a nice touch.
Look, I've been a member of this board for over a year, practice C&R and clean conservation practices (and emphasise them around everyone I fish with) and put the health of the fish runs before all things. Shut the whole damn thing down if we have to! I haven't spoken out much on this issue before. But, I'm tired of the fanatical and ill placed negative energy going into efforts such as 695. It failed because its a crock of crap. And so is everything directed at bombing the commericals off the map. Ever taken time to see what areas have been close off to non-tribal netting during the abbreviated fishing periods???? No consideration is given to the fact that the commercials have put forth many dollars, and years of time into rearing and releasing fish and restoring stream habitat that not only benefit them (increasingly less and less) but benefit the sportsmen who get to catch the salmon produced by those commercial efforts as well. Just remember, when you are sitting at Ray's Boathouse or some swank joint on the Seattle Waterfront and are watching a bunch of gillnetters "rape" the chinook, it shouldn't be the "non-tribal" commercials you are getting pissed at.
I gillnetted for salmon in Puget Sound and the Willapa system in the late 80's, Istill gillnet Bristol Bay Alaska and I crab fish in both Alaska and out of Westport. I'm retooling my life and career (with substantial impact to my family and lifestyle) and most others in the changing world of commercial fishing are also. Yes, partially in response to the negative image we have recieved from unbased propaganda from sportsmen's groups (so yes, you are having an impact if that makes you feel good), partially due to the changing market conditions in the seafood industry (if I were looking to head up an intiative to help protect our wild salmon runs I'd look seriously into our little "triploid" buddies running up the rivers to spawn). I guess what pisses me off is the stuff I hear and read that is totally void of factual statements. I mean, where do you guys get you stats and facts, off a McDonald's monopoly game piece?!! Go to your regional fishies office and get some hard facts before you spout off. Don't rely on the boys at Cooter's Worm Bin to pat you on the back about the survival rate of C&R's wild steelhead and salmon. I've seen the public in action on that one and its not pretty.
There are positive efforts being made on both sides of the ball, we need to erase the line and drop the "HolierThan Thou" attitudes, read the facts, face the realities, cut through the propaganda and figure out what works. I'm for the fish and just plain tired of the crap slinging that doesn't have any merit anymore. Guess I'll have to take it if I want to be a part of this board.