I-696 would likely mean an end to readily available fresh herring in Puget Sound. I know that Possession Pt. Bait Co. uses a seine and this would be prohibitted under the measure. I don't know what harvest methods Buds Bait over in Edmonds or other areas such as Pt. Defiance use.

As far as herring being a candidate for listing on the Endangered Species List, there are some major issues that need to be worked out before the species will be considered for listing. There are 18 separate spawning stocks of herring in Puget Sound that Fish and Wildlife manages, while the Feds (Natl. Marine Fisheries Service) look at the Sound as a single population. The largest of the stocks, which spawns in the Cherry Pt. region north of Bellingham, is critically depressed, but most of the other stocks are healthy. It's this Cherry Point stock that may be driving the push to list.

I don't believe the scientific data warrants Puget Sound herring to be listed as a single population. There may be (should be) a push to divide the stocks into spawning populations, and list only the seriously depressed ones.