Thank you Todd for providing TRANSPARENCY on this. I dont want to hijack this thread but the commercial side is only part of the story. If this politician wants to ensure balanced treatment between commercials and recreational fishermen, he should offer both sides of the equation.

The 2006 National Survey by the US Fish & Wildlife Service cites more than

$867 Million in WA based recreational fishing.

The link is
http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/nat_survey2006_state.pdf
and the WA data is on page 14.

The overview report is here:
http://wsfrprograms.fws.gov/Subpages/NationalSurvey/2006_Survey.htm