Originally Posted By: eyeFISH
Originally Posted By: cohoangler
The Treaties just recognize the right was already there, and would continue in perpetuity. So even if the Treaties were to vanish today (which won’t happen), the Tribal rights to fish in their usual and accustomed places in perpetuity remains.





HMMM... in perpetuity, eh?

That's like a REALLY REALLY REALLY long time, right?


The Tribes would say their fishing rights extend back to "time immemorial" and into the future "in perpetuity".

The frustration on this BB over this issue is understandable. But the Tribes have similar but different frustrations. They see massive development all over the Puget Sound and Oly Pen area. They see important salmon habitat being lost daily to ever encroaching development. Strip malls, housing developments, single family homes, hotels, roads, bridges, farms, condos, flood dikes, etc, etc.

We all see it. But the Tribes don't see "progress". They see habitat destruction, if only through the loss of water needed to support this infrastructure. And they see the State unwilling or unable to slow down or stop the development. They've petitioned the Feds, but the Feds are almost as unwilling and unable to stop it either.

The loss of habitat mirrors the loss of salmon. As one goes, so goes the other. We are arguing over scraps of whatever fish remain in Puget Sound, in part because of poor ocean conditions, but also because salmon habitat is not producing anywhere near what it once did. The Tribes believe that if the State was better able to regulate habitat loss, and habitat were in better shape, we would have alot more than just scraps to fish on. We would have a decent fishery. But we don't.

So who is to blame? I'm not going to point at the Tribes for the loss of salmon habitat, and I'm not going to point at the State for being unable to stop development. Our government (local, State, Federal) is ill equipped to restrict the freedoms that we've all come to expect. We expect to be able to buy land and build a house or a business. We expect to drive to various places on reasonably safe roads. We expect to be able to drink clean water, buy good and services at our local stores, raise a family, and to be fairly safe from natural disasters such as floods. But all these things adversely effect salmon habitat. And the more people we have, the more we compete with the resources that salmon need.

I understand the Tribes concerns but the solutions may not be realistic. But solutions begin with understanding. So if nothing else, perhaps we can all understand the "other guys" point of view.