Last year in the ocean when Canada supposedly overfished and hammered the Chinook...We saw the best Chinook fishing off the coast in recent memory. At the end we had over 5,000 fish left on our quota so WDFW gave those fish to the commercials. Now we are told we need to cut way back because Canada caught so many fish. I wonder if WDFW had not given 5,000 more Chinook to the commercials if we would still be getting threatened with closures.

And the tribes are stopping more catch and release fisheries because , of course, they cannot accurately count the sports take. I think it about time to propose wide open gambling by this state. The tribes have virtual veto power over our fisheries policies and we sit back letting them get more and more powerful all the time until someday we won't even be fishing at all. Think it is a joke? Go to a NOF meeting and listen to how many times the tribes are mentioned. See how many times we are told we need a permission slip from those great stewards of our fisheries.