I am curious to know, what the WDFW said or did, when it became apparent that the tribe took appox 11,000 Chinook, in the 3 day fishery in Elliott Bay, Lower river. While anglers were lucky to get 2,000 kings, in a fishery that provided the local economy approx $400,000
in revenue from gas,tackle,food,bait,launch fee,Beer, marine parts,etc,etc. The tribal fishery had no effect on the local economy but took 9,000 more kings than anglers did, Preliminary figures indicate with a continued elliott bay chinook fishery the local economy would see approx 1 million dollars in revenue that could be directly related to that fishery. I read a state document, that said the state is obligated to manage the resource in the best interest of the citizens of the state of Washington. Not on this occassion. Again I ask why not try to buy the tribes estimated revenue from that fishery. Keep the nets out of the water, no boat maintenance, no working all night on the water,etc ,etc and in turn they get the same income that they would normaly get. The state can make sure that the fishery does not exceed harvest levels due to the easy monitoring a fishery in a confined area like elliott bay brings. Its much easier to stop a fishery with each angler being able to catch 2 fish maximum, you can estimate fairly well how many fish best case scenario are going to be caught. With a 100 gillnets in the water it is impossible to know how many fish are going to get caught byany one net. So in a fishery where history has shown that an aggresive tribal fishery has and will again exceed harvest levels that resulted in escapement not being met, I say lets look at a way to fairly enjoy this fishery and protect it at the same time. This is not a anti tribal post but only my opinion.