Chris, I personaly find the use of gillnets and for the most part siene nets to be under regulated in the State of Washington. The use of a gear type in the prosecution of a fishery is only good if it is done with effective monitoring and enforcement by competent managers and adequate enforcement personel. I am getting a pretty clear picture that we might be lacking here in Washington in this regard. As to which is worse on fish, nets, or all the other problems facing salmon in the northwest one only has to look up north to Alaska where annuual harvest by the various users is measured in millions of fish and then walk the streams after all those netfishers trollers and sport fishers have been fishing and look at the millions of salmon that are choking the unlogged undamned unpolluted streams.
To many times people in general tend to look at the other guy, the other tribe if you will to give up the little of what is left so he she they or I can have the little thats left. This whole thing about attacking everybody else to get the last fish will get us just that "The Last Fish"