Of course not, Jerry. Sport fishing, if prudently managed with either catch-and-release or very limited catch-and-keep regulations on wild fish (such as winter steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula), can be conducted by a large number of people every day with relatively limited impact on the resource. There also is an active enforcement mechanism for checking catch limits and licenses. And, as you know very well, entire rivers are closed every year to fishing for one reason or another. How is suction dredging, as currently regulated, enforced, and conducted in Washington and given its potential to damage streams, similar to sport fishing? I don't think they are at all.

I've argued at length in this forum that suction dredging needs a licensing requirement and genuine, active monitoring and enforcement in the field (at the very least), so it's obviously pointless for me to repeat those arguments. If you think suction dredging is inherently harmless or environmentally insignificant and our current rules don't require any changes (as your comment suggests), then we simply differ. Fisheries managers in Oregon, Idaho, and California have reached conclusions similar to my own, though.