Larry B., I agree that the two violations are not the same. I was just trying to point out that, as you note there are folks in both the treaty and non-treaty fisheries that don’t follow the rules, but that does not mean that the respective management entity, either the tribe in question or the State of Washington are responsible for those violations. Just for enlightenment on the topic of poachers, as a final post on this thread, I thought I would share some of my experience with some serious local non-Indian poachers, which really do exist.

I live in Olympia, and anytime anybody has fisheries open (treaty or non-treaty) for crab in southern Puget Sound or Hood Canal, there is a gentleman that comes into a local bar a couple of miles from my house selling crab. He is not Indian or associated with Indians (as that sort would not be welcome in that particular bar) and is not a commercial crabber, but he has crabs for sale every week. Regulars in the bar know him and how he comes by these crab and really don’t care. They support him wholeheartedly.

If you know the right places and/or the right names to drop, you can find this sort of thing all over – well at least every place I have looked. This includes places (mostly bars) from Shelton to Quilcene, and also includes a few of the well-known places we all pass that are located right on the Canal and Highway 101. So despite years of enforcement, there still appears to be the same counter culture of natural resource thieves that I ran across 30 years ago when I worked on the Canal. Since there has been more development of full-time residences on the Canal, I doubt that it is as extensive as it once was, but it does still exist.

I know that area well, and am also known in a lot of those places, so the thought has crossed my mind that maybe it is not as wide-spread as I think. Maybe because of my connections, I was able to find those sorts of folks. That thought changed a couple of years ago, when I went to stay at Birch Bay for a few days for the first time in my life. After checking in and poking around for a few hours, I ended up in a local bar right next to where I was staying. After a couple of drinks and some conversation with folks in the bar, which turned to discussion about fishing, I was invited to participate in an illegal crab fishery the next day by one of the bar patrons. Even though I had never met him, he gave me his name and number to call to join him if I wished. After he left I talked to several of the patrons there asking about this fellow, and they all assured me that it would be perfectly fine to join him in this as many of them had done it before, without any problem.

I have more stories to share (Curt and Hal might be more interested in a few) but I hope I’ve made my point. Like you, I recognize that there are outlaws in treaty and non-treaty fisheries, some of them much more serious than not turning in crab or salmon CRC’s. Their existence, however, does not mean that the respective management entities condone or support them.

Last post on this thread.