Salmo, these are perfect points. It does take a little preparation but the Commissioners DO listen to the people.

Regarding more Transparency in our fisheries, or Public oversight in the Tribal/WDFW meetings is something the Commission Chair Bradly Smith has said is VITAL and IMPORTANT to the management.

The impasse is the Department says that the Tribes cannot be forced to the table. The department cannot force them to accept a live video feed in the meetings because of the Sovereignty question. The real reason is permits! Director Unsworth stated if they try and force the issue, the tribes may just opt out of the negotiations. In other words, not participate! Which means, no piggy back on their permits and another train wreck for the Department. SO, simply, they choose to weather the storm of what they view as a "few constituents" who want open meetings as opposed to a MASS Rebellion and blood letting on the Department if they screw up the fishing season. You see, back in Coho gate, Unsworth fought the tribes over the coho closure. Remember how ugly that got? Well, he feels the sport fishing community abandoned him in the middle of that fight and he got flamed. So now, he's gun shy. Too afraid to challenge the Tribes lest they pull our permit chances out of the meetings.

The utterly horrifying thing is. Although they are negotiating a LONG TERM permitting plan, so we don't have to go through a North of Falcon every year. The Department told us that THOSE NEGOTIATIONS WILL ALSO BE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC! Imagine, having to live with a ten year plan that you had NO INPUT ON!!!

Having a live video feed in these negotiations would not hurt the fisheries. It may embarrass certain parties, and it certainly would stop some of the bad behavior reported to occur in these meetings. And there is a simple solution to having the live video feed included.

All the Commission has to do is add it into the North of Falcon policy before they vote to approve it! It then becomes law under the Open Public Meetings Act! Of course, the tribes either collectively or separately can choose to attend or not, since they are not subject to the law. But what a public relations nightmare if they choose not to negotiate in good faith, because they don't want things in the open!