Yes, its a tragedy that the supposed "CO"managers do not cooperatively manage out of the same playbook. Without mutually agreed-upon objectives, the resource is ultimately made to suffer.
The way the co-managers spend paper fish is like a financially dysfunctional couple sharing the same checking account. Without a mutually accepted budget plan, one spouse's irresponsible spending can't be kept in check by the other..... and the account is chronically overdrawn.
The GHMP is the state's conservation-minded blueprint to ensure our stocks are NOT overfished during times of reduced productivity... just like what the ocean is serving up right now. The tenets of the GHMP are biologically sound from a conservation perspective, and WDFW has demonstrated its commitment since implementation to keeping itself accountable to the document.
However, the GHMP only applies to state-managed fisheries, and there's been no buy-in to the plan as far as QIN is concerned. Whereas the constraints imposed by the GHMP to conserve a depleted stock leave state fishers unable to fully access otherwise harvestable surpluses of other more plentiful stocks, the QIN does not hold itself accountable to the same constraints. Nor are they legally bound to do so.
The two co-managers continue to have different ideas about how to forecast run-sizes, and widely disparate fishery objectives. The Region 6 management team made that very clear last night.
It's like a symphony with TWO conductors each reading from a different sheet of music. Half the musicians follow the lead of one conductor, while the other musicians follow the lead of the other. Each night when the curtain comes up, it's anybody's guess how well the concert will be performed. More often than not, it's horribly painful to listen to.
Just like our annual fishing seasons and the chronic inability to meet our escapement objectives.
Just makes you wonder how long folks are gonna keep buying tickets to the show?
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)
"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)