I'm all for compliance with the rules, but it may be that WDFW has been doing what they believe is the best they can do ($hitty as that may be) for Puget Sound steelheaders. I can't help but think that the ultimate reasons why WDFW has operated out of compliance for the past 12 years in Puget Sound are financial. Most likely, in order to get the permits in question, the hatcheries in the region will need to be retrofitted in order to comply with new HSRG standards (or something else prohibitively costly), and the Department's budget simply can't cover the costs without making other sacrifices that are viewed as off-the-table. Certainly, they don't want to face the reality of losing A LOT of license revenues from the Puget Sound region (further hamstringing their ability to provide meaningful fisheries) before their hand is forced.

I personally make it my policy not to bash sport fishing interests and/or conservation/protection groups, even if I do have doubts about their agendas at times, because I appreciate anyone and everyone who is interested enough in wild fish conservation to volunteer their time and money to their cause instead of bitching about and bashing others who do. I agree with those who have lamented our lack of organization as sport anglers, but I'm not interested in making enemies of people who have proven themselves willing to volunteer their time and money just to tell them where I think they're off track. To fight amongst ourselves only further degrades our potential to enact change. It just occurs to me that suing the agency responsible for providing us with fishing opportunity is a particularly dangerous tactic.

If it turns out to be necessary (according to real scientific data) in order to conserve what's left of the wild fish in Puget Sound, I suppose I'll have to support it, but I would second the previous assertion that we had better start closing the coastal rivers if this lawsuit prevents WDFW from planting smolts in the Puget Sound rivers. I know I said something about Puget Sounders not buying licenses if they lose their hatchery plants, but in reality, recent history suggests another scenario to be more likely. Without the hatchery fisheries in the Puget Sound region, anglers from that region will descend on the coastal streams like hordes, because they will have no other opportunity. This has been proven already during the part of the past few seasons that follows the closures in the Puget Sound region. The early-timed wild fish on the coast will not withstand the added pressure for long, and that won't do wild fish, as a whole, any favors. I just hope this is the right thing to do, because the consequences may prove catastrophic to our winter steelhead opportunities.