RPetzold

I don't understand how you can say that "we gave up our rights when we damed all the rivers, polluted all the waters, cut down all the trees, overfished etc. etc. etc. etc" Where do get off saying that "we" did all that stuff?

Was that not the actions of the big power companies that put in the dams? Was it not the big timber companies that did the massive logging? Wasn't all this done by just a few selected special nterest and user groups? What about all the other "smaller streams" that do not have dams located on them that are located in our National Parks and national forests; did we also give up our right to fish on them too? I believe not!

Yes, RPetzold, you have given up "your rights" but many of us still believe and maintain that we still do have our right to fish; even if we do have to follow the rules and laws to govern the taking of our fish.

Your argument about giving up your right to fish may fit you well, but it certainly doesn't fit everyone else, including me, or the tribes. I still have my right to fish, I just have to pay more now then my forefathers did. Just because we are a society of unbelievable amount of "rules", that surely does not mean that we have given up "our right to fish". People can maintain both their right to fish, and at the same time, adbide by rules that will assure, at the same time, that we continue to maintain perpetual sustainable runs of fish.

It appears that you are content to accept fishing as a "privilege". But many others, including me; will maintain that it is OUR NATURAL BORN RIGHT TO FISH.

Just because one has the "right" to fish; does not mean that one can over fish a specie to extinction, or break the "rules" that assures its species existence.

I'm done! (for now)

Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook????