There is a mini-war brewing within WDFW and the legislature centering around funding for WDFW. Director Koenings has shot the first volley with his threat that the upcoming Sockeye season in Lake Washington this summer will not happen for sports fishers. The reason given is that there is not enough money available to fund the fish counting to allow a season. This is despite the fact that estimates put the run size at near 1 million fish..that's right ONE MILLION fish. The escapement minimum is 350,000 to allow a fishing season. Predictions are that a season of 4 or 5 weeks is possible. With current funding a 2 day season for sports is all we can expect. That scenario would mean 7 day a week tribal netting. No season for us does not mean no season for the tribes. It means they get the forgone opportunity and will net the living hell out of those fish. Just imagine the ads for WILD fresh Sockeye at Safeway!

The new legislative session starts this week and it is time for all those of you who care to write letters to the governor and to your respsective representatives in congress. Common sense would say that such a high rate or return will bring out a huge number of fishers to the lake and that it would be the biggest fishing related money maker in our state. That is exactly why the politicians target it. They go after the most popular fisheries for closure so the public will get up in arms and approve more funding. That way they can do like Governor Locke is doing and propose even more taxes for his social programs and propose even more bloating of state government while very worthwhile and profitable things go unfunded.

The time is now to write letters. Politicians believe that one letter is worth 1,000 votes. Emails and phone calls are ok but nowhere as effective as a personal letter. No form letters.
Get busy if you care.

Grandpa,

I think you mentioned this once before. Thanks for bringing it up again, now that the legislature is about to begin its session. We've seen this kind of hostage-taking before, and I wonder if Koenings is making this "pre-emptive" warning as he competes with other state agencies for what is sure to be tight money. I'm thinking we ought to also write directly to Koenings, recommending alternative fund-saving measures, such as cancelling the lower Columbia R. springer gillnet fishery. That is sure to cost a lot of management funds, observing all those tangle nets and recovery tanks. Since the return to the state's economy is miniscule compared to the LW sockeye fishery, he ought to be receptive to ideas like this.

I do agree with you that this is a call to action.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Koenings is a true politician. At the Port Townsend commission meetings it was startling to find out how much money WDFW is required to pay for non-WDFW agencies as their "share". The Washington State government bureaucracy under Gary Locke has grown to one of the largest per capita in the United States. Unfortunately WDFW has to pay millions for things that are not fishing or hunting related. The jockeying for dollars is beginning. Locke has fired off his lame duck proclamations to grow government even bigger before he leaves. These sneaky rats always go for the sacred cows when they threaten cuts. It makes me ill but it is true politics in the raw.

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot though. Shut down a potentially huge moneymaker like the Lake Washington Sockeye fishing season to prove a point or score political capital.

In between getting a boat show booth ready and sportsmens shows I will definitely be writing to my representatives about this and other funding issues.

Apparantly, Gov. Locke has already allocated the money needed for the fishery in this year's budget. Probably the only good thing he's actually done as governer. If, for some reason, there is no fishery even with numbers like that, I think sportsmen should fish anyway as a form of protest. When was the last time a commercial fishery was canceled because of lack of funding? Hell, a few years ago on the Columbia, there was a general commercial slaughter because funds weren't allocated to put monitors on the boats. Was the fishery canceled? Of course not.

Jacob..you better dig a little deeper..Gov Locke allocated only $150,000 in the budget. The estimated cost of the monitoring is around $750,000. There is a major shortfall at this time. Gov Locke simply did what was politically expedient and not adequate. I'm not sure why the fish counting to verify run size is so costly since I always thought the Muckleshoots counted at the locks so they could make sure to justify their net fishery. This merits keeping a close eye on it and staying vigilant or we will get bent over by the tribes again.

Grandpa,

Good point. Maybe we should ask Koenings how much it costs (750K) and why, and request a line-item accounting. Maybe there's some smoke being blown here.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

A friend of mine believes that the government gets a lot of pressure from Lk. Washington residents who are against a season. They all have money and they don't like the extra hassle a sockeye season causes. He said he was talking to a Kirkland resident the last year there was a season and somehow the subject came out. The guy said that various communities on Lk. Washington try to block fisheries because they're considered "disruptive".

$750,000.00 to monitor the season? Yes, let's see the breakdown on that. The WDFW monitors I have run into on the area waters certainly don't appear to be paid that well!

So somebody with free time today find out why the study is so expensive or if it is yet another gust of smoke up our Azzes

I thought the tribe also had a fish counter down there. You know the co-manager thing. For $150K I'll sit down there & count em. $750K seems a little high. Since the state does not know how to manage it's funds maybe we could have volunteers to count fish? As to the residents who don't want to be disrupted by boats on a lake ???, well they can just move.

I would say the tour boats that run up and down in front of the expensive homes all summer are more disruptive...no question there are a ton of boats on the lake when the occasional season happens. Call WDFW to find out about the study

I thought the tribes counted the fish at the lock's and if it were'nt for them we would never get a season!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.This is just what I've heard in the past.
Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Remember to be a state quality operation they need 1 person counting with 7 people standing around supervising.
1 for the GAO,
1 for the Feds,
1 for OSHA
1 for the lablor Unions
1 low level manager,
1 mid level manager and
1 top level manager.

x 3 shifts and a equal number on call. Then the consultants and staff to do the 5000 page report on the findings. Add in the weekend and holiday pay and it's a steal at $750K.

To find your Congressional Representatives, click here

I can't wait to get out on Lk Washington with my kids.

From what I have been told the tribe will put up the funds and will count the fish. I have contacted my rep and let her know how I feel about this!! Mr Jeff needs a wooden shampoo!!

There might be some confusion here.

The tribe counts the fish at the ladder to see how many make it past the nets in the bay near shillshoe and in the waterway below the locks to estimate run size. That data helps determine the harvestable numbers. I think they get reimbursement for this expense but I'm not sure. It is not paid for out of the $750,000 in question.

The $750,000 expense is to count the number of sport anglers, the hours on the water, the success rate etc. It pays for the dockside counters, aircraft surveilance and data analysis to determine total harvest in order to satisfy the tribal claim that we might be taking more than our 50%.

You can find the data analysis on previous openers at the WDFW website.

Locke did approve $150k the problem is $150k only covers 2 three day seasons.I met with keonings 2 wks ago,the states estimate is 450-500k the tribe who controls the fishery thinks 750-900k.the highest daily recorded catch is 12k. If we need 350k for escapement and we split 250k with the tribes thats 125k each that should give us about a 10 day season.the problem is $150k only pays for 6 days of enforcement and monitoring.If the sporties only catch 60k fish what do you think is going to happen to the rest of the surpluss

In my humble opinion...

If the state is required to pay $2.50 per fish
just to count how many were caught...

The System is BROKEN!

Of course any surplus will go to the tribes. Why do you suppose they want it to cost more to run the season? How about a $2.00 Sockeye stamp?

Don't bother with Koenings or the Commercial Fish Commission, they want the fish to go to the tribes or any other commercial fishery. Go after your senators, reps, mayor, city council, and county commissioners. Enlighten them on the millions of dollars and thousands of votes they are not going to get if they stand by and let the sport fishery die.