Fishinjunkie15 raised a common question regarding Tribal vs. non-Tribal harvest. This is not a new topic on this BB. Here is my take on it.

The Tribes are allowed 50% of the available harvest. The available harvest is defined as the numbers of fish over and above what is needed on the spawning grounds. The available harvest is independent of the allocation. That's the reason (IMHO) the Commission has been slow to take the "no-kill" position for sport angling on wild steelhead. If the sport anglers don't take their allocation of the "available harvest" of wild steelhead, the Tribes can take 100%. That is, they can take both the sport allocation and their own. Conversely, if the sport anglers don't take their 50% allocation, it will not affect the Tribal allocation.

So why would the Commission take this position? Just because the Tribes can take the entire allocation doesn't mean they will. The market for wild steelhead is not great and it's likely to go down. Prohibiting the possession of wild steelhead by sport anglers will result in more wild steelhead. I'm all for it. Plus, if the market continues to decline, it's possible the Tribes stop fishing for them as well. I think that's what Dave was driving at when he started this thread.