Couldn't agree with you more. Here's a little more to fuel for the fire. World population has increased from 4 B in 1975 to about 6.8 B in 2008. This has put increased pressure on fish stocks worldwide to feed an ever increasing population. Of course, this has increased the amount of Pacific salmon caught by tribal and commmercial fisheries. Seems simple, they should be making lots of money. Right? Wrong! In fact, the price per ton they have been receiving has dropped from $6000/tn to about $3000/tn over the last 15-20 years. And do you know why that is? Simple, the amount of commercially raised farm salmon has flooded the market. The only way the way the commercials can make more profit is to catch more fish. Plain and simple.

Now here comes my question. Who is responsible for making sure that the catch numbers both the tribal and non-tribal fisheries are honest numbers? It seems that if you are getting less per pound the only way to make more money is catch more fish. Here's the other point that sticks out for me. Where are those fish being sold and what benefit our we as citizens receiving from them? From my point of view most of those fish are either being shipped out east or overseas. Either way I don't see how we (as a state) make much off of commercial fishing.

One last straw on the fire. In doing some research into this subject I came across an interesting study about the value of US recreational and commercial fisheries. If you want I'll provide the link but one statistic stood out for me. This was value of marine recreational fisheries in Washington and Oregon are some of the lowest of all the marine states. Apparently our state governments do not place a high value on recreational fisheries. The state of Washington generates @ $6.8 M in tax revenues from marine recreational fisheries. The state of North Carolina generates @ $141 M in tax revenues. This state is missing out on a tremendous opportunity to increase it's tax revenues by promoting recreational fisheries. Just think what it would be like to have a healthy recreational fishery at Westport, Ilwaco and Neah Bay. Most people have given up on those because of the severe harvest restrictions that have been in place over the years that favor a commercial fishery. Let's get rid of old and start thinking looking forward instead of just accepting the status quo.