Beancounter -

Larry has it exactly right; the various game fish fisheries have become collateral damage in the State's drive to insure the best salmon seasons possible. To date (since the first of May) clearly by far the largest impacts from the mess that became NOF has been the game fish seasons.

Even once the salmon seasons that came of this year's process receive Federal approval the impacts (loss) to game fish season in the Puget Sound region will re-surface this fall. It was far to easy for the State to throw those September and October seasons under the bus in order to maximize any potential salmon opportunities. Somehow the co-managers deemed it acceptable to allow coho impacts while targeting hatchery Chinook but not while targeting various game fish (whether perch and bass in the big lakes or cutthroat and steelhead in PS rivers). Again a matter of priorities.

At this point it is no longer about what can be done about this year - the seasons are set in stone! But rather what direction will things take next year. In that vein it would probably be beneficial to game fish interest in the various affected fisheries to let the non-treaty decision makers, Commission members and WDFW director Unsworth; that allowing those game fish season to become collateral damage with what appears to little concern is not acceptable going forward.

Curt