I have also been reading this post and wanted to express some other viewpoint that is not mentioned. From what I know of the Native American Culture, they relate to their natural surroundings not just as a 'way of life' but as part of their religion and belief system. While it certainly makes sense to find an alternative way to raise money to support one's family/tribe other than the 'hunter/gatherer' method that has been used in the past, the indians have a right to do the fishing as a part of their belief system.

I am not condoning whole sale netting of stocks of fish or diminishing the stocks so that others who have a right to enjoy fishing are not able to partake but simply trying to mention that it is more than just 'a way of support'.

It pains me to hear of netting fish just to be thrown away so that they can get the eggs and sell them. I think that their ancestors would be ashamed of this raping of another creature.

It pains me to see that tribes are searching for ways to get Federal support for this.....There is a prime example of a tribe that has overcome this need in the Tulalips. They have begun a campaign of attracting national retail chains to their reservation with access to off site residents of Washington by promoting the tax free status other benefits that our government has given them. I think that is great!!! There was a recent article that they are generating so much money for the tribe that 'traditional' methods of wage earning are being left behind. They can do this if the use the resources they have and I do not mean just natural resources.

I don't really think that anyone here really 'hates' the people just the actions that they are taking. Remember that there are as many or more non Native Americans doing things we dislike like 'snagging' as there are Native Americans netting. We must temper our dislike to some degree that as passionate as we are about our sport many Native Americans are passionate about their beliefs.

I would also like to point out that before 'white mans' appetite for Salmon became so great that we nearly wiped out the species so to speak, there were many healthy abundant runs of fish that were not affected by 'netting'from Native Americans. On the other hand, now that the stocks are so low, we all should be doing our best to support the runs. I would be willing to go so far as to suggest a total ban on fishing to some extent for everyone, commercial, private, Native and sport, to get the runs of fish back. But who else would be willing to????? It comes down to greed and selfishness. Once we get past that the fish will have a chance.