I need to clarify what I meant. When I said shutting down commercial fishing ain't gonna happen I did not mean that we should not work to scale it back or even eliminate it. What I meant was that zeroing in on elimination of one harvest method (netting) to benefit another (sports fishing) always comes across as self serving because it is. The net ban initiative that I worked with so many others on was a flop partly because it was self serving...AND because most folks I talked to refused to support it as long as the indians didn't have to abide by it. What's the point they would say. I had to agree.

I am all for engaging the elected officials as I ,myself, have done for years. Just be smart and make your requests doable and reasonable. Hopefully this next time around we will elect a governor who cares about fishing issues.

One idea I like is this: Take pictures every chance you get of abuses concerning our fisheries. Publicize them and send them to your elected officials. Take an elected official out fishing. Voice you opinions in letter form and not email.