Hey guys,..been a long time since I've posted but am a constant lurker as many know.

Since its been awhile since I've posted just wanna give some quick karma to those that are trying to make a diference. WAY TO GO GUYS!!

(Todd you get special Karma for cowboying up on that net pulling incedent on the Green,..you Da man!!)

Blood finally reached its boiling point yesterday and had to cowboy up myself.

Its not just the Makah's, its state wide mismanagement and pretty well apparent at least on my home river. Maybe we can turn some eyes state wide now.

Sent my letter today to all WDFW officials, as well as State officials, district legislators, Times & Skagit Valley Herald. Not great at puttin' together letters so hope ya dont mind fishNphysician, that I used yours for my format as well as what Jerry had to say regarding Boldt. Here's what I wrote;

"I am writing to express my extreme frustration and displeasure about Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) management oversight; not only regarding the blatant over-harvest of Chinook salmon by the Makah Tribe winter troll fishery in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but also the over-harvest in other North Puget Sound areas as well.

The principal “co-managers” should be held accountable for allowing this and all other blatant incidents to happen. It is a crime against all other users of the resource, as well as ESA-listed stocks of Chinook from the Columbia River basin and Puget Sound Area Rivers. It is high time for federal government to step in and take charge of the gross mismanagement of our resource under WDFW watch. An open-ended season by tribal fishermen without regulated, defined harvest quotas should never be allowed to occur.

Under the Boldt Decision, individual treaty tribes have a legal test to show that they can self-regulate their fisheries. Boldt, even though it confirmed treaty rights, also took 100% control of the fisheries from both the treaty tribes and the state. It then granted both the state and the tribes the ability to self-regulate their fisheries as long as they could show that they could stay within the guidelines set out in Boldt. This is not happening! If they cannot meet that test, then the NOAA-Fisheries can and should take over directly by setting their seasons and enforcing them.

As a second generation full-time fishing guide in Washington State whose resident and out-of-state clients spend thousands of dollars a year to sport fish for salmon and steelhead in Washington, I am discouraged by higher and higher license fees for less and less angling opportunity and gross mismanagement of our resource. Sport salmon and steelhead seasons are cut short, bag limits reduced, fishing gear restricted, and wild salmon are placed off-limits to retention. That’s not to say that such measures aren’t good for ailing fish stocks.

However, when anglers sacrifice so much for the benefit of fish restoration, while other users are permitted to indiscriminately over-harvest threatened stocks, it is simply outrageous! Wherever fisheries are mismanaged to allow over-harvest by tribal and commercial fishermen, be it in the open ocean,
Strait of Juan de Fuca, Puget Sound, or the Columbia and Puget Sound Area River systems, the sport fishermen suffer. Your constituents deserve better… way better!

I have guided anglers on a daily basis, fishing our North Puget Sound Area rivers as well as our Olympic Peninsula Area Rivers for the last decade and am extremely discouraged by the blatant over harvest and mismanagement of our fish stocks by tribal fishermen, especially. The Skagit River System is one that needs to be brought to your immediate attention before another mismanagement oversight occurs. I have personally witnessed the over-harvest and wanton waste of salmon and steelhead by tribal fishermen and have reported it on many occasions to WDFW and Washington State Patrol with no action. Something needs to be done before it is too late.

The Makah Tribe’s over-harvest of our salmon is a wake-up call to decision makers that Washington State’s fisheries are in a state of woeful disrepair. It’s high time we get it fixed before we allow the “co-managers” to harvest not only ESA-listed but all salmon and steelhead to extinction.

Sincerely yours,"

Thanks again to everyone doing there best to make a difference!!!