Herm,

It's kind of like asking people if we need more traffic cops! The people who are going to break the laws will continue to break the laws. More cops only work for a short time. Yea, they can stop poaching for a short time, but the guys who do the real poaching are usually to smart to get caught. So we just usually end up catching the guys who just makes a bad judgment call and forgets to punch out a fish, or some other minor violation.

Will more enforcement turn around our declining fish runs. . .not likely! Will more enforcement save our "wild" fish? Again, it's not likely. So what purpose will more enforcement really serve? Is it really worth having to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to catch a few guys who go out and intentionally snag a fish or 2 or forgets to punch his fish?

Personally I don't see the need for more enforcement. Most guys, most of the time go by the rules. I believe that there are enough enforcement out there to handle most of the areas that have the biggest poaching problems. . . will they catch them all. . .not likely!

WE already have enough "stand by enforcement"; and it's called the state patrol. When the WDFW need additional help, lets pull a few of our troopers off their radar guns or coffee shops and let them work the fields for a day or two during the times that we have high poaching periods. Anyway, that is how I would solve of problem!

You know, we spend millions of dollars each year teaching our kids how to play football, baseball, and all the "other sports" and sportsmanship. How much do our schools spend teaching the kids about the oldest sports in the world . . . i.e. hunting and fishing!

Better yet, let's get our schools and our educators off their fat duffs and start teaching the next generation about fishing and hunting, and then maybe, just maybe, the next generation won't need to have a cop or game warden to tell them what is legal and what is not!

AuntyM: someone put another box on the floor again, and I just couldn't help myself!!


Cowlitzfisherman