Cutting and pasting I e-mailed all of my legislators in 15 minutes. Technology is a wonderful thing

Sorry to rain on your parade but lobbying the legislature to do away with commercial fishing is a waste of time. Not gonna happen. The commissioners are appointed by the Governor. That would be Governor Grid-Locke. The commission is so corrupt with commercial fishing bias it is a cruel joke. The law we need is one to do away with the commission itself. It was designed to provide for a balanced voice across the spectrum of user groups including sports fishing. We have no sports fishing voice on the WDFW commission. They all hide behind the legislature when confronted about commercial bias. They start public meeting with the stern caveat that they pay no attention to which sector brings in more money to the state. Take a look at the shrimp allocations for a stunning example. A huge percentage of shrimp harvest was given to a miniscule number of commercial shrimpers. The commission went against public opinion and even the WDFW biologists to hand over another natural resource to a handful of people who contribute very very little to the state.

Start by throwing the bums out of the state house. The socialists have run things around here long enough. Vote every chance you get.

Grandpa (Eyore) has pretty much stated the current state of things.

But I like to believe government is in constant flux. I actually heard of a rep in P.A. expounding on the financial benefits to the state from rec vs comm fishing.

I disagree that writing our representitves is a waste of time. I will be forwarding Spawnout's letter.

Slab (Eyore) The state actually made its own study public showing without question that sports fishing brings in way more money that commercial fishing. I think even the tribes use their commercial fishing money for things other than the necessities of life... But the problem is that the commission , aided by the governor, does just the opposite. I am in no way saying not to wrtie letters. I am saying attack where is counts.

Grandpa, notice that the Govs contact info is not on there. I never intended anyone to write to him, he's a lame duck anyway . Write to the folks that want the votes. And I'm also preparing signed letters to fax to all of mine. This is still a democracy, if enough talk they will listen

Grid-Lockes email cannot be added onto an email list. You have to approach it directly and on its own. I was at the meeting in Mount Vernon with Grandpa and qute a few other PSA members on the shrimping issue. The commision is fully corrupt. Before we had our chance to speak on the shrimping issue the commision slammed the door on us and thwarted every thing we had to say before it was said. My foot still hurts where it was in the door. They must have read our emails that time. We did jamb up their phone lines, email boxes and mail boxes. They had top listen. Instead they did all of the talking. Grandpa is right. You have to go over the commissions head. I like the idea of the commission, but it has turned against us. Its like Bill Cosby said about the kids tonsils in the " We're gonna have ice cream" segment, the tonsils have joined the other side. Write those letters and most of all get Locke replaced with someone who cares about our great state.

Grandpa, I agree getting rid of the present commission, or figuring out how to load it with recreation-minded people, is the way to go.

Aside from that, what is a better solution other than the commission? Which state has a good model program?

Perhaps we could point that out to our respective respresentitives so we offer them a solution instead of just complaining about what is.

There's a lot of really smart individuals here when it comes to fisheries. I'll bet collectively this board could come up with more than one workable model that could be presented to the state for consideration.

The commission idea was great upon its inception. It has been the implementation that is so corrupt. When the governor appoints the members it isn't much better than if the governor just ran the whole show. Politics is so deeply seated in the system with all the graft of special interests that it can't be taken seriously. Somehow it should be possible to force the governor to adhere to the spirit of the law creating the commission and get a sports advocate in the mix.

Ok all.... Here is my CIVIL post....... Grandpa2, I believe that the above attitude (which is the norm for most touchy laws nowadays) is flat wrong. Sure, it seems hopeless, but the ONLY reason it is hopeless is that not enough people come together on the issue. Believe me, in politics, votes count, and if enough mad as hell people get together on an issue..... IT WILL CHANGE!!!!!

Not to start another argument here, but even things "set in stone" like treaties or protectionism laws can be changed if enough people holler loud enough to change it. Problem is, politicians want the bickering and discord, because then there is no organization, and without organization things do not get done.....
Hell, if they can modify the constitution of this country a zillion times (which is the premier law of the land), anything can be modified. The difference is how organized the effort to change the law or status-quo is.

Look how just one Dad was able to get the supreme court to rule that the "pledge of allegiance" was unconstitutional. It took organization and a lot of work by lawyers to get it done. May be overturned BECAUSE THEIR WAS SUCH AN OUTCRY FROM THE MASSES!!!! Now, they decided it was unconstitutional... That was their decision.... But they run and hide after 80% of America was outraged and inflamed by that "constitutional" decision... Changing their minds fast.....

Again, all it takes is a larger, louder group, and the high $$ groups loose a lot of their appeal.
The one thing you can always count on besides politicians being sleazy, is that they are bought for the highest $$ or the highest vote count. Without the votes, the $$ will not get them into office or keep them there......

Great letter!!!!


MC

I need to clarify what I meant. When I said shutting down commercial fishing ain't gonna happen I did not mean that we should not work to scale it back or even eliminate it. What I meant was that zeroing in on elimination of one harvest method (netting) to benefit another (sports fishing) always comes across as self serving because it is. The net ban initiative that I worked with so many others on was a flop partly because it was self serving...AND because most folks I talked to refused to support it as long as the indians didn't have to abide by it. What's the point they would say. I had to agree.

I am all for engaging the elected officials as I ,myself, have done for years. Just be smart and make your requests doable and reasonable. Hopefully this next time around we will elect a governor who cares about fishing issues.

One idea I like is this: Take pictures every chance you get of abuses concerning our fisheries. Publicize them and send them to your elected officials. Take an elected official out fishing. Voice you opinions in letter form and not email.

Why letters instead of email? Better chance of being read?

Letters always get more attention than emails. One time I thought the governor actually wrote a thoughtful response to one of my letters. As a member of the governors salmon advisory board I was bragging about the response letter to a friend only to find out that he had the exact (word for word) letter in response to a completely different issue. But even the form letter responses are meaningful. Most all of the elected officials I talk to say letters carry much more weight. Especially if you include your name , address and a phone number.

Emails are better than nothing though and much easier to accomplish. Phone calls are real effective too. I spend a fair amount of time on the phone with legislators and find that very interesting.

I didn't realize that.

Letters are a pain in the butt to compose, write, then finally mail compared to email. What would be nice is if there were a selection of form-type letters available online that one could choose from, print, sign, then mail.

Someone that's really good with HTML could design a letter, and in the body there could be drop down menus with selections for location, species, ideas, etc., plus menus for who to address it to. A person could choose a letter, make their selections, print, sign, and mail. With three or four different bodies to choose from, with different options in each one, it wouldn't appear like a simple form letter mass mailing.

If it was made easier for the average sportsperson to get a letter into the mail, we could have a louder voice in the legislature.

Whereas every email, letter, and phone call DO count. the form letters and cut/paste items hold the least accord. Its the same thing as signing the whatever petitions outside k-mart. And they are just as easy to answer with a form letter. But send them any way if that is all the time you have; and attend every meeting you possibly can.

A non-corrupt system would allow ALL voices to be heard at their public meetings. And just as G'pa (I think) stated, the commercial industry has a huge financial backing. If the commercial fishermen were the only ones backing their style of "fishing", the laws would have been changed years ago. However, they are backed by the business world (canneries, distributors, supermarkets, etc.) who already have ties in the political ring and a lot more money than the weekend fisherman.

Until an outdoor loving, ethical, rich fisherman (or woman) can afford to take-on the corrupt political arena, we'll continue to be stuck in this hell hole.

It just hurts the soul to KNOW what our economy could be like if an emphasis was put on the sustainability of the fish. Every port on the coast and straits has the capability of looking like Sekiu does from June til October. But hell, the government doesn't need the money......

I have the perfict places. Take a official to the Hoodsport Hatchery, on a week day, during late November and show them the thousands of Chum carcases floating around dead left by the Indians, please don't make this a Native issue, or show them a "Goast Net" full of dead animals.

I just sent off letters to all of my officials. I urge all of you to do the same. Let's make a difference!

Dose anybody know of a rich or powerful person that would be willing to "sponser" rec. fishermen?

Hi Bob,

You can bet I will be sitting down to write my letters and do my share this weekend.

Hope all is well with you and family.

Good work here.

http://www.savefish.com/

Go to the RFA (REcreational Fishing Alliance) website and see the Freedom To Fish Act. Coming to our area very soon