Dear Gov. Inslee:

Recently, I purchased a combination fishing license, hoping to continue my lifetime pursuit of salmon and steelhead along the ocean shores and river stream banks of Washington State. As I understand it, the current political stalemate between fisheries co-management groups might lead to the curtailing of fishery opportunities for recreational fishermen in Puget Sound. I urge you to consider the social and economic impacts such a prohibition might entail.

Besides fuel, besides bait, besides dock fees and watercraft licensing, besides the restaurant and hospitality industry dollars that I willingly (gleefully!) shed each year, there is another balance to be tallied: the soul of the resident of Washington State. Who has been raised to take a fish or two by rod and reel for the Sunday dinner table. Who has learned to smoke fish, and send vac-packed samples to relatives in Wisconsin. Who is willing to trudge along miles of muddy riverbank in the rain, fueled by a gas-station burrito and quickly-cooling cup of weak coffee, yet trudging nonetheless, because the fish are there, or might be there, and because Netflix-and-Chill is decidedly not.

Alas, the soul of Washington lies in its waterways, in its wildlife, in its salmon and steelhead—not in Netflix. I heartily encourage you to undertake whatever means you deem best to protect the rights of Washington’s recreational fishermen in these troubling times. Our very souls depend upon our fisheries.

Don’t have to walk very far down a Puget Sound beach to hear a couple of seagulls screaming at each other over the last scrap of fish. Sometimes, most of what parades as management science sounds much alike. (And I apologize here if this is but one more scream in the cacophony.)

Thanks for your patient consideration—

Maurice Austin
Eastsound, WA