I believe the tribes are financially responsible for a lot of the chums in Hood Canal, especially the Skokomish Tribe. Our tax dollars aren't going to them.

There also are laws on our books that mainly preserve chums, pinks and reds for commercial fishing, both tribal and non-tribal...and we still get the opportunity as sportfishers to catch pretty much as many chums as we can, both in Hood Canal and in Puget Sound.

As far as the egg stripping goes...there is a law that forbids the fishermen from selling eggs without the carcasses. However, there's a huge loophole in it, one that allows the fish buyer to only sell the eggs. Here's where the loophole comes in...if the fisherman buys a commercial broker license, they can catch the fish, strip the eggs, sell themselves both the eggs and the carcasses, then dump the carcasses and sell the eggs.

Financially, it makes sense, since chum carcasses are virtually worthless, while the eggs are very valuable. Making fish buyers and sellers deal in worthless carcasses is like requiring corn farmers to sell the stalk with the ears.

The only option I can think of is to somehow make the carcasses more valuable to sell than to dump. The law that requires them to be sold with the eggs doesn't do that, and neither does the market. The fact that they're so prolific and easy to catch is the biggest factor...the market becomes flooded with low quality chum meat, and 2 1/2 cents a pound is about all they'll get.

I guess there are other options. One would be to fix the loophole and make them deal in the carcasses. The problem with that is that tens of thousands of worthless carcasses are going to be shipped all over the place and I don't see where they're going to be used.

Another would be to ban exports of eggs without carcasses, which would shift the disposal problem to Japan, which is where the great majority of eggs end up. This wouldn't solve the problem, but would at least let someone else deal with it.

Or ban exports of eggs, period.

None of those really help the fishermen, or the fish, however, as they'd likely cause even more of them to be caught to make up for the costs of dealing with the carcasses. Either that, or force them out of business.

If forcing them out of business is indeed the real goal, then I'm for responsible legislation that says what it intends, and does what it intends, with no hidden agenda.

An example of a law that has a hidden agenda and a different intent than what was put forward is the law banning steel jaw traps and snares. All of PETA's advertising showed kitty cats and other cute pets being caught, and warned of your children being maimed, by these types of traps. The intent, however, was not to protect kitty cats and toddlers; it was to stop the fur trade.

Another example is the Fire Suppression Acts that are up to protect us all from forest fires by cutting down all the stuff that burns. If anyone with a straight face can tell me the intent isn't to cut more trees to make money, but is to save us and the forests from themselves, then that person ought to get a job with G-Dub, because he hasn't been able to convince anyone of that yet.

Whatever solution, if any, is proposed, just be careful of what you ask for and what it's unintended consequences might be. If chums lose all their commercial value don't expect any hatcheries, anwhere, to produce them ever again. Also, if chums lose their commercial value, then something else will have to be caught to make money for the netters. If all they caught were pinks, then they can have 'em all, in my book. If they shift their effort to steelhead or silvers, then we've made a grave mistake.

I guess any solution I've seen so far for the carcass wastage problem has inherent problems that are worse than the problem it is intended to solve.

How about the state/tribes/feds buy the carcasses for 2 1/2 cents/lb. and uses them to fertilize streams? I'm sure there are biological issues to deal with...but perhaps they could be overcome. Maybe less problems caused by this solution than by others...

Fish on...

Todd.