Quote:
The Nisqually tribe has concerns about the effects of selective fishing on ongoing salmon recovery efforts, and about hooking mortality in wild fish, Kautz said.

"We don't want to manage fish for political reasons," she said. "We want to manage for the resource."

In my opinion, there are only two reasons why a tribe would actually rally against mass marking, and they both boil down to the same reason...

One, they don't selectively fish, and if you could tell the difference between wild and hatchery fish, you could see just how many wild fish, and how much damage to the wild run, a net fishery is doing.

Politically, and possibly legally, this would be a big deal.

Two, if we have to fish selectively, and they don't, and a great number of hatchery fish are not clipped, it provides them with access to a lot more fish than non-tribal fishers. The most obvious example of this is the Columbia River.

"Managing for the resource" is disingenuine, unless they mean "managing the resource for us".

Fish on...

Todd.

PS It's pretty clear that EVERYONE except tribal fishers would benefit from mass marking, including the resource.
_________________________


Team Flying Super Ditch Pickle