While it may be true that some of the comments by various sports man and this other forums were off base. I can see how some of those comments could inflame the situation. That said I believe it is important to look at the underlying causes.

On the whole I have found that we as sport anglers tend to be under informed on the nuances of salmon management and the process developing our annual seasons. In addition it is rare that anglers are provided with complete information upon which to form opinions and potentially assign blame for various frustrations.

While it might be appropriate to assign some communication blame on the sports community not be completely up to speed on the issues and reality of the salmon management in this state. My observation is that a large share of the "blame" falls on WDFW and their co-management. The failure has been in both in communication to the sport community and transparency within the "process". Recent decisions/actions by the co-managers only serves to compound the problems.

For what is worth I have found incredible passion for the salmon resource in the sport fishing community and it would serve the salmon resources and those that care to fish for that resource to capture that passion. Long term success in any salmon recovery efforts will require uniting that shared passion (tribal and non-treaty) to the benefit of the regions rivers and the resource those rivers support. Unfortunately the co-managers have been unable to bridge their differences and seem to be struggling to find any sort of path forward.

The entire situation does not bode well for either the salmon resource or those that care about that resource.

Curt