I hardly ever post but I just had to this time. I witnessed the netting practices on the Puyallup River today. The netters were throwing all the dead male Chums by the dozens back in the water and they were floating down river. They were keeping the females only for the eggs. I did not see what they were doing with the female carcasses but I could not stand it. I then spoke to the tribal Policeman there and he said they have had such a bountiful season on the Chums that yesterday 3 yes 3 nets they lost. I asked how, he stated they were so heavy with fish they sank. All those fish wasted and he was proud of it. He was proud of the run that your tax dollars keep alive. Also he stated that they were netting Sunday through Friday, only leaving one day, Saturday for fish to get by. They are netting the width of the River only allowing a couple of feet on either side. Oh and to kick us proud ethical fishermen in the gut, they had 2 steelhead one of which was native on the bank and the person I talked to said he would sell it for $4 bucks a pound. You are looking at a 230lb man crying on his way to work. I cannot stand this crap!!! Makes me want to take the 20 some Lamaglass and GLommis rods I have and just bust them up and throw them in the fire place. Ralph

""You are looking at a 230lb man crying on his way to work. I cannot stand this crap!!! Makes me want to take the 20 some Lamaglass and GLommis rods I have and just bust them up and throw them in the fire place.""

Many of us DO understand, Ralph. Sadly, among the native peoples there are those who actually use the resources they are blessed with by the people of this country, but then there are those peoples who have no respect or concern for the welfare of their target...slash and burn...damn the results.

There are certainly pro's and con's to the issue of tribal "rights". Personally, American being what it is today, a melting pot of the world, my viewpoint is that NO ONE be allowed special rights to the resources of America.

Americans bought into the "emotional blackmail" placed upon them by the so called "native" people, and now the results of our actions are in.

We (non-native Americans) no more owe the "Native" American peoples any rights to anything than we owe slave reparations to the non-white people (including Chinese and all other races used as indentured servants) who were enslaved in the early years of our country.

Just my 2 cents.

Mike

p.s. I have a nice fireplace, if you need one..:-)

Welcome to the real world. Unfortunately, what you witnessed is practiced all over the Puget Sound region.

Have you ever looked at the beaches around Hoodsport at the end of November? Thousands of dead chum left there by the indians with their bellies opend up and eggs missing. Dose anybody know why they dump the fish infront of the hatchery?

I just had a thought. I wonder what the Senate/House/Govener would think if they saw the piles of wasted dead chum in person. Or mabey if somehow the media did a story about it on TV. Would the government decide then to rethink and revise the treaties to bring them into the 21st centery instead of leaving them in the 19th centery?

The problem is that it's a federal, not a state issue. The governer would be powerless to stop them.

Ok then how about Senate/House of the US? What if one of our state represenitives where to see the devistation?

WELL WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH WE NEED PAY THEM OFF AND TAKE OUR FISH BACK.......

That would never happen. The tribes are the largest financial contributers to the Democratic party in this state. As long as the democrats are in charge, nothing will change.

Jacob, Exactly where at the Federal level are the Democrats in charge?

I totally agree with what Mike B. said. There are those native americans that respect our natural resources as much as any of us and then there are those that dont give a damn. Unforunately the ones that dont give a damn are much more visible than those who do care. Like our friends that are Yakima's that have hunted elk with us for years with the same liscenses we buy and under the same rules we follow. But then theres those few that shoot elk in front of everyone at the Oak Creek feeding station and net fish just for their eggs so they can sell them to foreign markets. Thing is, I've seen quite a few sport fisherman doing the same damn thing to chum, but not on such a large scale of course. Such things can be swiftly delt with though if its a sport fisherman, as for the natives, well they do it and it seems no one is there to stop them from doing it again.
In my opinion theres 2 ways to take care of this. The longest shot is getting the law changed from "state land is unclaimed land" to "state land is claimed land", but that will take the right case, one damn good lawyer, and a lot of money. What I am refering to is the law that many of you have probably read about that allows native americans in our area to continue thier harvesting methods off of tribal lands. This is a problem specifically with our district court located in "san francisco" of course, that encompasses the western states. The rest of the country has the "state land is claimed land" version of the law, so natives have to abide by our laws once off of tribal land.
My other idea is grab your video camera, go down there and film what their doing. Then shoot a copy of to all our local t.v. networks and newspapers. They might not respond but its worth a shot. Maybe they'll send one of their "investigative" reporting shows, down there to take a look.

waterboy

The tribes support people like Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, and our state reps. Most likely, if someone were to make the tribal fishing malpractices in Washington an issue, it would probably be somone from Washington. It doesn't have to, but I doubt senators from other states would really give a damn about a "minor" issue like this.

Somebody should do this. I would if I had a video camera. It would let thousands of people see wha is happening to our unique resource and some action could happen. Once the people see what's happening, it would be tough for the tribes to have a "helping mother nature image."

It's actually been tried. Now, with the internet, it might be different, but several years ago, Puget Sound Anglers went and filmed several hours of tribes fishing and harvesting in this manner. Numerous tapes were sent to every local news source. It was never shown or mentioned.

Well, mabey it should be tried again now that the news (mostly KIRO) has that new investigating group. They tend to investigate things like this.

has anyone caught that new commercial for the northwest tribes. the commercial failed to show what is going on at the rivers.

The number of nets on the Puyallup has gone way down, since the tribe started giving each tribal member $2500. a month from profits of the Emerald Queen Casino. In the past it was not uncommon to see pickup trucks full of Chum and Steelhead rotting outside of several taverns in Tacoma - Puyallup area. I drive over the Puyallup River several times a week and have not seen very many fishing boats compared to years past, yipee!