Phil,

I understand your dismay, but as we've all come to understand, fishery interests are not about not fishing. Harvest first, conservation later.

SteelieDrew,

The river flow has really jumped up, so there won't be much fishing until it drops down again.

The net fishery for sockeye is completely unnecessary. The main problem with the sockeye gillnet fishery isn't with sockeye. It's the bycatch of kelt steelhead, wild spring chinook, wild summer chinook, and a very small number of wild summer steelhead. The Tribes, like other commercial fishing interests, are opposed to selective fishing, particularly in a case like this where all the sockeye are bound for the Baker River trap, where fish could be taken for harvest and the hatchery and the spawning beaches, and the lake without affecting a single fish of non-target species.

The eternal problem with using the trap for commercial harvest is: who gets the proceeds from the sale of the fish? Each individual fisherman believes he is the highliner who would catch the most fish and make the most money. When all the fish come from a single trap and there is a single pool of money, who gets it and how much? And so the tragedy of the commons continues. And the commercial harvest will occur before the runsize can be updated.

Sg