As I read further into the data I get a little smarter and more aggravated and discouraged at the same time. It seems that good science is being intentionally or ignorantly disregarded. I more fully understand Francis' post about being discouraged, but I have no doubt he will persevere.

"This study found no statistically significant differences in long term survival among fish caught and released from tangle versus gill nets."

OK, True Dat, so why then are we forcing our commercial fishers to use this outdated technology that cuts off recreational fishers from catching opportunities and harms non targeted stocks at the same time?

This current WB/GH commercial fishery is a sinking ship, destined to go down. I mean, that as this is brought to light it will not continue. I predict that Region 6 will be heavily, heavily scrutinized going forward. It used to be that local areas stayed local, but those days are gone. this is a regional issue, if not national wrt harvest and sustainability, and we need to up the ante. Time to work those smart proposals and talking points.

"Dovie'andi se tovya sagain" "Time to roll the dice."

I think that emails, letters, and personal conversations with WDFW staff and administration are all good. And I think that it is sage advice to "Keep our words sweet, lest we have to eat them." That does not mean the words cannot be focused, just that we should all leave here as "friends." I believe the WDFW staff are concerned and want "all this" to work, doing good things while staying employed and providing for their families.

This took up more bandwidth than I intended. I hope it is useful.

Regards,

Rick