As far as state and tribal they are as corrupt as the mafia!! Two seasons ago I brought my girlfriend to the skokomish. It was a perfect late summer day, the kind of day you know you were gonna get fish. Until some tribal members started throwing explosives into the river to shock and push salmon into their nets. I was appauled!! So I called our wonderfull stae fisheries, thought it would be a good idea, since they should be the ones to handle such a thing. right? wrong!! They promptley told me this was a trible issue, not their problem.
What the hell does it do to buy your liscence even when this is the **** your gonna get from the state that sets the laws and is responsible for enforcing them!!!!!

Sure wish I was Indian, all the Rights none of the laws.

I believe its time to look at the states involvement as a whole. Not as one state and a nation. Thought this was supposed to be all of our fish.

Hey tomic your an Idiot! Why don't you go spend a little time and do some research on the subject. When it comes to tribal fishing and its enforcement it is tribal and Fedral who dictate not the State. Do you remember the Bolt desision, It was about the tribes sueing the state becouse the state enforced its regulations and seasons on the tribes. It dictated what the tribes could do and not do so the Feds came in and changed the way that the state could do things. In other words the fish and wildlife ain't squat when it comes to the issues maybe Atomic you should vent to the Feds. The State of Washington has not won a court case against the tribes in thirty years. The state goes to court representing people like you.
I might not be a Rocket scientist but it sure is getting on me nerves reading about people bashing the state for things they have no control over. But the did have control until 1975 and things have changed since. Do you think that the state would actually sit by and let someone throw dynamite into the river if it could be stopped?. I think not.
Thank You just my uneducated opinion on an uneducated subject.

Femfisher I don't know what practice is allowed by the tribal fisheries but call Noaa and ask for Mark( I think, not sure of the last name) he is a poaching officer for the pacific northwest and he might be able to help you but he will most likely refer you do the tribal fisheries and you will get the run around. Noaa does have right to step in and override when activity in progress does cause harm or is illegal. But they to have to follow certain guide lines set forth by the tribal fisheries. They can only investigate and arrest if the rules being broken are illegal under the tribal fisheries. There are so many provisions on what one can and can not do it is hard for most of the lay person to deciefer what is leagal and what is not and to contact the proper authorities.

I don,t know about the skokomish tribe but it is not legal for the muckleshoots unless there were seals around.We buy seal bombs to scare them away.

uh,,, can white man throw seal bomb's?

Hey LILLYLIVER,Your missing the point. And sorry about my spelling I dont want to upset an honorable and knowlegable person such as yourself. I bet you are working on your Doctorate degree so you can be a future employee of the State of Washington and save the fish. Or maybe you already know it all without the education.

Hey Stinky i mean Skunky, theirs no reason for name calling. Look if your so hot on state and federal laws, what degrees do you have? Writing in bashing, isn't the answer I was looking for, all I was saying is that if the state dosen't care why should we! If the feds are so active in state politcs where is the results. At least I tried, that's more than i've seen or heard from you on this topic.

Tomic,

You said, ". . . all I was saying is that if the state dosen't care why should we!" Why are you looking for a reason not to care? Do you make your decisions about what is important to you and therefore care about based on what the state does or doesn't do? May I be so bold as to suggest a more independent approach to personal values and aspirations? I say that because waiting on the state or someone else just isn't going to get you there.

I tried to figure out why you were posting about an incident that apparently happened over two years ago. Maybe you were surprised to discover that the state doesn't enforce treaty fishing activities. Welcome to the brave new world of U.S. v. Washington.

Treaty Indian tribes are largely self-regulating, or non-regulating as some would assert. Really, what could state enforcement have done? First, there would be the reservation issue, where the state has no enforcement authority. Second, they could refer it to tribal fisheries enforcement, but you said they were already on the scene and taking what they deemed "appropriate" action. Three, the state could have busted the alleged offenders who would have prevailed in court, so the state would have ended up wasting their time and your and my money. You don't have to like it, but that is pretty much how it is with treaty fishing in WA state.

Lastly, sad to note, but the Skok is a terminal area wipe out fishery for hatchery chinook. That means the state raises hatchery chinook there for release and the state benefit of marine chinook fishing (ocean troll and sport, Straits and H.C. sport fishing), and whatever comes back to southern Hood Canal over and above the hatchery spawning escapement goal is there for the tribe's wipe out fishery. Sport fishing in the river and natural chinook spawning are just coincidental activities that occur but are not a major part of the management consideration. So as long as it looks like the hatchery is going to achieve its spawning escapement, I can see where the state wouldn't necessarily care what the tribe does with the rest of the chinook or how they go about harvesting them.

To much gloom and doom. Try this: Things could begin to change, however. Since Puget Sound chinook are now listed as threatened, the state and the Skokomish Tribe have to modify their management to allow a natural spawning escapement component of the run. I've no idea how they intend to do it, but obviously some changes to fishing will have to occur.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.