This is a drag!(pun intended). The non-fishing public in this state is really uninformed. I am quite frustrated with (of all people) the initiative sponsors. Don't get me wrong-the cause was noble and I backed it to the best of my ability 100%. But the message just did not get out as aggressively as it needed to. Especially in the critical week leading up to the vote.

When we were gathering signatures and this was just getting rolling, I vividly remember the talk of how organized things were this time around and there were all these strategies that would be used to bombard the public with the facts. It didn't happen! I know it takes money;advertising is not free. But, my gosh, wasn't there enough money to run commercials on the big 3 in seattle for even 1 night before the election?

About all I saw for coverage was word of Tom Nelson going around doing debates and the odd, tiny radio station giving a spot here and there. It's not enough!

Meanwhile, the media of this state bought into the commercial lies and told the masses to vote against it. Great! Maybe the sponsors should have put more effort into educating the media thereby letting the media spread the message for us. Our letter writing apparently had no effect.

Apparently, the public won't by into the initiative approach. Maybe the sportfishers of this state should instead save their energy and bombard the wildlife commission and the Washington Dept. of Commercial Fisheries with a UNIFIED MESSAGE about how we want fisheries to be managed. (Read that in a way that won't leave puget sound a desert and have WDFW change laws to force commercials to fish selectively. They can do this, they just won't).
I'm going fishing while I still can. In a few years evrything will be endangered because WDFW let it happen and no one will be fishing.