Here's some interesting content that doesn't hold back on attacking the failed fish program leadership of Kelly Cunningham.

This was the =AZb8zYTHYiM40vEOeXTRjEaxtT9wK8GXhiTwirP...test post today of which it seems he's caught the attention of Mr. Cunningham. I hope Badger Fishing keeps this up.

If there is one thing Kelly does care about, it's his personal image and what people say online about him and his management decisions. I've heard him tell his own staff in fish division meetings that we don't need to do XXX differently or improve XXX, we just need to do a better job of telling the public and they need to understand what we do better.

Here are the links to his various accounts. I hope he keeps this up. There should be plenty of material, given the amount of leaks within the Cunningham's fish program staff.

https://www.youtube.com/@badgerfishingnw
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61585085017480
https://www.instagram.com/badgerfishingnw/

I am not sure that they care what folks think, no I know they don't care what people think.

Most of my stakeholder interactions were with commercials in PS. When I started it was during the Fish Wars and most everybody was pissed at WDF. My boss instituted a series of presentations for the folks where we laid out the legal requirements we had, the data and how it was collected, and how decisions were made. After that, the relationship was much better. Talked with many of them weekly with updates on the coming week's fishery. They certainly didn't always agree, and told us so. But we listened and they listened. Sometimes, they had some good ideas that were implemented. This was for WDF.

At the same time, WDG required at least field staff to attend the local sports club meetings. I know some WDG folks who were even presidents of some groups. Purpose was to know what stakeholders were saying.

I suspect that much of the problem now arises because of a clear lack of participation in the fisheries and lack of communication.

Just reading at least some of the comments here there is still a lack of understanding of what Boldt decided in '74; that's quite a long time not know what the rules are.

01/13/2026

Kelly Cunningham is the Director of the Fish Program where he directs and oversees all aspects of the program, including the Fish Management Division, Hatcheries and Science Divisions. Kelly began his career with WDFW in 2012. He brought with him over a decade of executive management experience. Kelly holds Masters degrees in Environmental Studies and Public Administration. He is a lifelong recreational fisherman


and spent nearly 20 years as a commercial fisherman in Bristol Bay, AK.



Kelly resides in Olympia and enjoys fishing and spending time outside.

There was a time when the leadership (except for Director in WDF) were able to come up through the ranks from field activities to office activities. Now, I doubt that advancement pathway exists as the agency has other values rather than having touched the resource.