I like the Commission right now, but I see Geoduck's point...

Maybe a bad analogy, but if WDFW were a company and the Commission were the Board of Directors, they would NOT look at the results and say:

"Hey, great job folks!" (decades of declines of both natural origin and hatchery production)

"Keep doing what you're doin'!" (further reduce harvest, which is proven to not work)

They would fire the guy in charge.

I know WDFW's managers feel that their hands are tied by ESA, treaties, Boldt, insufficient funding, and probably a bunch of other reasons. But an entity that perpetually claims its hands are tied is an entity with a severe leadership problem.

A Board would never accept "sorry guys, our hands are tied" from a CEO and the Commission should not accept that from WDFW. Solutions exist, and finding them starts with leadership.

Yes, the replacement could end up being yet another goober just like Unsworth turned out to be after Anderson left. But that's not a reason to leave said goober in charge.

Having said all that, we should give the Commission a chance. They have been blindsided right along with us. The Commission is likely in the process of deciding what to do.

I'm writing the Commission recommending the delegation of authority to the director be withdrawn, and the director replaced.

Should be an interesting meeting Friday