Overall, I thought the conversation was good this morning, but the Commission has a lot to learn in not much time if they are to be expected to make solid decisions about Grays Harbor.

A few quick observations about the Commission, to whom I spoke and listened for the first time today:

1. It's a good thing this process is underway. They seem to have good intentions, but with the exception of Wecker, they had next to zero understanding of the issues affecting the Grays Harbor basins prior to this morning's hearing. A bit disappointing, but also cause for hope.

2. They do seem unanimously committed to conservation. Excellent.

3. Most of them didn't seem to know much about NOF, which suggests they simply trusted Region 6 staff's recommendations and applied the rubber stamp to this season's plan. Eye-opening.

4. They seemed eager to learn more and get actively involved. Great.

5. Commissioner Smith's closing expression of "frustration" with repeatedly hearing economic arguments came across as arrogant and condescending. Seemed to me that if we were all wasting the Commission's time, he could have pointed that out sooner, as opposed to waiting for the closing remarks. Fortunately, he didn't seem to get a lot of atta boys from his colleagues for his assertion that economic considerations would be out of the picture. I suppose he was right to say the Commission doesn't set budgets, but I imagine the people who put him in his seat are interested in how the Commission's decisions affect them economically.... Oh, well. I digress. It was only a first impression; there's plenty of time for redemption (as if anyone should care what I think).

As much as I appreciate the dedication of the sporties who did show up today, I was very disappointed in our turnout. (Obviously, the ill or otherwise unable are excepted from the following rant.)

We've all heard the excuses (some of which are valid), but for Christ's sake, people, this was a Saturday morning. Public comment was over by 10:30- still plenty of time to go home, take care of your crap, and watch football. Olympia's too far to drive? BS! All of you drive farther than that almost every time you go fishing, and the commissioners came from all corners of the state. If you really care, you CAN get to at least one of these meetings. It's pretty hard, as good as eyeFISH, Rivrguy, and others are at stating our case, for us to claim we represent a majority when the commissioners and WDFW outnumber us in the room at every public hearing.

The sport side will only have a precious few opportunities to address the Commission (without WDFW filters applied to our arguments, anyway). We need to take full advantage of those opportunities, and that means giving up a few hours of our personal time to show up in numbers and repeat unified arguments until the commissioners puke and beg for mercy. No matter how busy you think you are, you CAN do it... At least once.