Mike,

This is great to get to learn more about RFA without having to make time to find it!
After reading your comments I will be joining.

A few thoughts concerning statewide release of all wild steelhead. I have been involved in fish issues for quite a few years in So. Oregon. We all need to remember that once we give up harvest of wild steelhead, we will likely NEVER get it back. These types of restrictions are very, very difficult to reverse. As one person mentioned, it also sets a very precarious precident for future management.

I am a member of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA) and the primary reason I joined was that I saw fishermen giving up opportunity since the '70's when I started in the Sporting Goods business and no one was standing up for the fishers. The fishing industry took it in the shorts for many years and has lost over 10,000 jobs in the region in the last 20 or so years. When I read guys saying "fishers must do their small part to make a difference" my gills flare like a pissed off buck steelhead.... where have these folks been the last 20 years that we have lost fisheries, gained volumes of regulations and given to the point of making our economy suffer????? We have given to the point of many, many people losing their jobs and business while, until recently, the loggers kept doing what they were doing, the irrigators did what they were doing, the gill netters do what they do, the predators go unscathed, the polluters get slapped on the wrist and the other nations plunder our fish..... yet some folks keep saying, "well, we gotta do our part as fishers"..... Hello!?!? When do we say enough and start asking others to do their part?

When we join groups like NSIA and RFA....... good on you Mike, where do I sign on.
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Do what you can do...no one can do everything, everyone can do something.