And yet another organization recognizing that things are beyond screwed up! Once again WDFW/Commission taking away from Sportsmen in favor of Tribal Gill Nets. One guess where all the dirty deals are done? Something or someone has got to take a stand and say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!”

CCA’s Call to Action: WDFW is at War with Sportfishing!

done, with a personal letter added

I give CCA credit for bringing this issue into the mainstream. And for the letters sent. But honestly, how many letters have been sent, how many guys have spoken to the Commission? How many years has group after group, organization after organization expressed concern and frustration with NO REAL IMPROVEMENT! A wise man once told me, they only listen to people who can sue them. I’ve said it before, ad nauseam, WE ARE LOSING THE MOUNTAIN A PEBBLE AT A TIME. Everytime we say, this sucks, but at least we get something, we are agreeing it’s ok. And we allow them to take a little more next time.

As long as we feed them (license sales) they will live.

+1 cman.

Sorry that this is probably not PC in the Puget Sound area, but it's becoming ever more clear to me that the tribes are running the show in this state. I've been a CCA member for years, but it increasingly seems that any victories for the sports fisherman, however small, are feeling more and more out of reach.

Edward,you are correct. The tribes are running the state fisheries and WDFW has no power or leverage. This thing called "co-management" is an absolute joke.

Interesting that it has been reported that the Oregon Gov. has replaced four ODFW Commissioners and filled a vacant fifth slot out of a total of seven. The terms of some of those replaced were due to expire in the coming months so whether this is a slick political move to replace commissioners who indicated no desire to continue for an additional term or a cleansing is not clear.

If it represents a cleansing and the replacements were selected with some level of marching orders to get the CR reforms back on track it could have implications for our Commission and its recent CR decisions.

Wish I had been a fly on the Oregon Gov's wall during those conversations.

Our WDFW Commissioners are now politically vulnerable in light of the actions taken by Oregon's Governor...and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Our Governor continues to travel cross country in pursuit of a pipe dream, while, in Olympia, a deepening crisis re: Fisheries Management lies squarely on his desk.

Can this fiasco get any worse? I dare say so. If these recent developments can't galvanize the various factions within the Recreational/Commercial Fishermen's ranks--nothing can, or will.

The showdown many of us have anticipated is now closely at hand. We are at the proverbial fork in the road--and the actions taken by WDFW leadership and the stakeholders in the days and weeks at hand, will have a telling impact on our resource in the decades ahead.

Commit to being part of the solution, rather than the problem--and do it for one overwhelming reason--that being, " It's the right thing to do."

If we are going to play the "blame game" let's be honest about it!

Yes the currently tribes do have absolute veto power of how the non-treaty fisheries occur. Until a few years ago following the ESA listing Puget Sound our fisheries operated under a federal "take" permit issued jointly to the co-managers (see various versions of the Puget Sound co-manager Chinook plans). As the Puget Sound Chinook status continued to decline the Feds rightly wanted a lowering of fishing related impacts on key stocks and were discussing that with the co-managers. In that climate at the urging and recommendation of the recreational community (and yes CCA was there) the State opted to attempted get its own permit.

I sure that we all remember the pain that cause and the complete failure in the State's ability to get their separate permit. With the tribes federal nexus via their BIA funding they quickly got their own permit with the result being that any non-treaty fisheries in Puget Sound ESA impacts are being covered under the tribal permit.

The question is the recreational community going to ignore their own role in this mess and continue down the "blame game". Is there any voices of reason out there looking for reasonable united way forward?

Of course all the above ignores the real "elephant" in the room. Since the ESA listing of the Puget Sound Chinook the key population parameters (abundance, productivity, and diversity) for the major of the population have consistently decline. This is result in declining allowable impacts on several key stocks. This has and will continue make allowing mixed stock fisheries more and more difficult (read that to mean fewer opportunities) with a continuing shift to more terminal harvest (away from the more limiting stocks).

Curt

I don't recall that WDFW actually applied for approval; they talked about it. I also recall that they said they were going to apply for the next one and didn't.

I do agree that the continued decline in Chinook, with little or no noticeable improvement in Chinook or SRKWs since listing suggests a new path is needed. That path, as Smalma points out, must concentrate harvest post-whales in the terminal areas. I seriously doubt that the Tribes want all the fisheries terminal, with recs needing access to their 50% of the adults. In the bays, on the rivers.

Letter to my legislators sent.

FWIW my recollection of recent history is that when the tribes and State could not agree at NOF the tribes went to the BIA and obtained a "permit" to fish and in doing so impact an ESA listed species essentially usurping the legislative authority of NOAA/NMFS.

That caused a great deal of angst at the State level (and probably within NOAA/NMFS) and considerable discussion about the State seeking its own permit. Ultimately the State did not pursue its own permit due, as I recall, to the costs, time to process, and threat that once its permit was submitted it would no longer be able to ride on the shirttails of the tribal permit meaning the possibility of limited or no fishing.

Have our circumstances continued to deteriorate to the point where the State should take the risk and seek its own permit? If it were to do so would NOAA/NMFS really cut off our fisheries or would it seek to reinforce its authority over the process and issue a temporary permit?

Dept. of Commerce vs. Dept. of Interior. Game on.

That's my recollection too Larry. Not sure I recall the state applying and failing to get its own permit. Would be a time-consuming process. I do recall the BIA "approving" the tribal coho slaughter up there a couple years back. Not funding or backing it, but in an unorthodox manner, rubber stamping and green-lighting it. When the BIA developed oversight of ESA impact fisheries escapes me. I could be wrong, but that's what memory serves.

fb

No, the State never did apply.......but should they reconsider now??

And, yes, the BIA did actively support it by issuing its own "permit" which the tribes acted upon.

The state will never walk until we have a governor who wants to engage. That's where the marching orders come from and the last thing Inslee wants is a public fight with the tribes over who gets to kill the salmon he says we need to feed to the orcas. The tribes know this and WDFW knows this.

The only way this will change is for WDFW to call the feds' bluff and the tribes' bluff. If they walk out, you'll have both the commercial fleet and recreational side putting immense political pressure on.

Do you think our federal representatives and senators are going to allow their constituents to lose millions or billions of dollars because the feds won't process the permit because they might have to make a decision? Next time fishing is down and the tribes play hardball, the state needs to walk and do it publicly. It's a political bomb the nobody is going to want to deal with. The feds did some serious hand wringing last go round.

Status quo works because the average Joe doesn't know what's going on. Everyone just rides out the storm for a few months during season setting and it all dies down until the next go round. Rinse and repeat.

Has anyone asked specifically if it is in the process. I did a while back and was told the State was working on a proposal but was not ready to submit yet. The fact that the Tribes could put together a proposal in weeks and get it approved, but the state has had several years and still does not have anything ready yet raises a lot of doubt as to how serious the State is.

The state is not serious. They've talked about it a few times and then the next NOF rolls around and nothing has been done.