Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
Tim,

From a biological perspective I'd only worry about anglers selectively killing large fish if the overall exploitation rate is high. The Hoh data I looked at shows small run sizes with a very small harvest rate. Because the total population is becomming small, there might be some cause for concern, but that pales to the concern I have for the population being chronically under-escaped.

I believe it's only a matter of time until all of WA requires wild steelhead release. Wild steelhead have been in defacto museum management mode for three decades in this state, but there's a general unwillingness to acknowledge the handwriting on the wall.

More important IMO is to establish a meaningful and realistic (comporting with productivity and capacity) spawning escapement goal and then actually manage for its attainment instead of below it. I have the same sympathy for the Hoh Tribe as I do any treaty tribe. I'm on board with the fishing as intrinsic to their culture, but circumstances change, and the Tribe's fishing needs to comport with the productivity of the river and the allocation specified in US v WA. I can't imagine a better life than living on the WA coast and extracting a living, especially one with ties through many, many generations. However, one inalienable fact of life is that life itself is uncertain. Any sense of entitlement, by a Hoh fisherman or anyone else, that because one once made a living doing a certain thing in a certain place that they should expect to be able to do so forever, is formed in ignorance. Respect for tradition is a good thing, but tradition isn't currency, nor can you eat it. I'm saying that if one can't make a living fishing, then it's time to learn another trade. The ancestors would understand. It's what they did down through the ages.

Sg




Salmo G,

Thank you very much. That is EXACTLY what I have been saying since forever. Unfortunately I lack the vocabulary to make it sound like anything else other than racism or attacks. Or maybe anger masks what I am truly saying. In any case, this is precisely the facts. Intrinsic right does not entitle one to the deciding of fates. Especially when the majority sufffers as a whole as result of the few. I guess this is the quintessential America though isn't it? The masses controlled by the few. In spite of our founding ideals.

I'll seperate the rest so that it is not associated with what you said Salmo as I am sure what I have to say is not in line with what you have to say.

Whatever. Anyhow, unfortunately, I think that the near complete extinction of the native fish,if not complete extinction, may be the only thing that will change current ways. I am not a lawyer, some think they are and some are. So hold the comments, because most of them mean very little to me. What I care about is the future of my family being able to enjoy atleast some of what I did as a kid and adult. I have already forgone the bird hunting I cherished as a Jr. High and high schooler since EVERY single place I hunted on is now a house. But the fishing isn't gone yet. I just wonder what it will take before it is. I pray that it doesn't happen. Unfortunately, it probably means all of us giving up soemthing that we all love nothing more to pursue for a while. But just think. Heading out with little Timmy to the river to chase around mass quantity of steelhead and salmon. To actually have a legitimate chance at catching that elusive 30 lber. because they haven't gone the way of the Dodo bird. I have long believed the retention of any Native should be strictly forbidden. It doesn't make any sense to keep them. Why remove something from an already dwindling resource.
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