I used IE in order to make the link work, so I finally was able to watch the linked meeting. Eh gads, I've never seen a departmental representative so unprepared to testify for a legislative committee. There used to be a Legislative Liaison position in the Department; I don't know if there still is. Some one needs to educate the Director about how state government works and how to work with the gov't.

Based on the W&M meeting and Pearson's NR committee meeting, it looks like no new money for WDFW in the upcoming biennium, and likely another decrease in GF money. It's late in the game now, but I think WDFW should "right size" its business plan based on the prospective budget and share it with the key Legislative committees so they have a heads up on hatchery closures and other cut backs to balance the Department's budget.

Since commercial fishing brings in less than 3% of the Department's budget, this could be a golden opportunity for the Department to close hatcheries that primarily produce salmon for BC and the small NT commercial fleets in GH, WB, and LCR. The Department should spend no more on commercial fishing than commercial fishing contributes to the Department, unless the Legislature chooses to provide GF $ to subsidize welfare fishing. That could alleviate most, if not all, of the projected budget shortfall.