I was at this meeting and noticed one glaring fact. The entire subject of the evening was "harvest" related. The days of harvesting steelhead may well be over for the highly populated Puget Sound area.

Habitat destruction and modification for human enterprise has reduced the carrying capacity of the Skagit system. However, the numbers of returning wild Steelhead to the Skagit are more than sufficient to support a well run Catch and Release season similar to the one that was in place before the ESA listing.

At the meeting, one of the attendees asked who he could talk to about getting some kind of fishing season back. He didn't get the proper answer so I'll give it to him here. Go to Olympia and ask the WDFW Commissioners. They are our advocates and the ones that can prepare the way by completing a basin specific management plan for the Skagit system. That is the first step for removing the Skagit from the Puget Sound ESA listing.

Although much of Puget Sound is in trouble, the Skagit is performing well and according to a study by those in WDFW the chance for Steelhead extinction in the system during the next 100 years is 0%.

In the spring of 2013 I tried to get the Wildcat Steelhead Club involved in our pursuit to remove the Skagit from the Puget Sound listing and restore our catch and release season. I was told, by the president of the club, that they did not support catch and release steelhead fishing on the Skagit.

It seems kind of ironic that they fully supported, and participated in, a catch and release program that released fish to the hatchery in a failed brood-stock program, but are against releasing them to reproduce naturally.

It is time for all sport anglers to put aside their differences, unite in a single voice, and advocate for what little sport fishing we may have left.

Respectfully, an Occupy Skagit supporter.