At the time Department of Game and Department of Fisheries were two seperate Departments and WDFW had not been established. During the proceedings Department of Fisheries made the statement that "we could live with 50%", Boldt took that to mean that there had been a negotiated settlement, which there hadn't been, and started looking for something in the treaty language that could justify a 50/50 split. That's how "in common" came to be "we'll split it down the middle".