Okay, out of a serious case of curiosity and an admitted lack of background I attended what was a 3 1/2 hour session today. Attendees were primarily charter operators and resort folks; only a couple private boat folks - myself included.

Out of the three options WDFW has prepared and presented to the public and attendees they seemed to be pushing one where the season's days (TBD) are common to all areas although there may be poundage "allocations" for the usual management areas. The problem with that approach is that big harvest numbers in coastal waters could effectively shorten the entire fishery to include, say, Puget Sound waters which they acknowledged has a much, much lower CPUE. If you are a small boat operator who fishes Puget Sound (to include the S.J.s and Strait) your potential six day season could be shortened accordingly.

Staff is sticking with the 2 fish annual limit while also acknowledging that such an annual limit will not free up enough poundage to allow for an extra day of fishing. It would take going to a one fish limit to result in additional day(s). Editorial Comment: This is great for the charter operators and particularly those in the more accessible port cities but really puts the screws to the independent small boat fisherman. As I recall Michelle said that 85% of fishers catch 2 or fewer fish per year. No info provided as to how the remaining 15% is spread out catch/year. Basically, under their proposal if you make a two day successful trip you are done for the season.

The good news is that Staff has dropped the proposal to change the possession limit from two fish to one fish. That allows a sport fisherman (and particularly a private boat operator) to make an expensive trip and take home up to two fish per fisherman - even if the open days are split (say, Thursday and Saturday).

There was some angst from the charters, resort folks and private boat operators from the Straits that their low CPUE warrants extra days to accommodate folks who simply enjoy being on the water and who are willing to fish those days while being aware that their CPUE is much lower than coastal. Those folks were adamantly against Staff's preferred proposal.

What did irk me aside from the fact that attendee input had no impact on their three proposed seasons was Staff's position that any potential extended days on the Strait would be constrained by impact on ESA listed rockfish. Staff said there were 19 "caught" in 2016 and 82 "caught" in 2017. When asked how the number reported as "caught" (encountered) versus actual impact (as in dead) given the recent effort to provide deep water fishers with descender devices she did not have an answer other than to say that the mortality rate percentages when using descender devices is accepted for coastal waters but not in Puget Sound. Maybe that is something to ask of our NOAA rockfish folks in order to obtain pertinent, usable facts.

I am sure that there were more nuances at play than what I grasped and have put forth above....so please forgive my ignorance.