http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2004/01/24/news/news01.txt

I don't know if this ran in any other papers, There's some interesting stuff in it.

well thats just dandy,we are painted as the bad guys! unreal!

fired off an email to the dude that wrote that articl and asked him to do one on how the gill netters on the lower columbia went over thier quota of springs, not to mention steelhead accidently caught and how the sport season was cut short!

"The tribes are so exasperated with the inaccuracies that they are saying they may have no choice but to sue."

thats the part that pissed me off...when the state needs all the money it can for fisheries, they go and make that comments like that, why dont chip in to help with some of there own money, to help enhancement.. they allready get what 50% off the top, and the commercials and recreationals get the other 50% right? why should they be complaining when they get a far more allocation..

The tribes always threaten the state and WDFW. Once they got the 50% ruling on all shellfish the geoduck fishery, clams, oysters, sea urchins...and so on started a downward spiral. Sure there are more recreational fishers on the water but I submit that it is the greedy commercials (only 21 non-treaty crabbers) and not the recreational fishers who are getting the shaft. We bring in the most money to the state's economy by far and yet we hear about how a tiny minority of commercial fishers are DUE the biggest share.

The crab should belong to all the citizens and not the tiny contingent of people making a profit off of their harvest. They will always complain about too few crab...And we sit back and take in the pooper again and again. It is time to speak up for a fair allocation of the natural resources of all the people.

Grandpa2 You're starting to sound like a liberal. Would you make the same argument if the natural resource was oil? :p J/K I agree with you that sports crabbers should get more.

Well if we start selling licenses and punch cards for oil drilling around here I'd be saying the same thing. Maybe if the tribes can trump up some new angle they could sue for 50% of the oil and gas and then maybe the air we breathe too.

It is an interesting concept to think about though...who owns all the natural resources? Easy answer on private property but not so easy when we allow harvest of natural resources by a tiny minority so they can sell the resource and make a profit. Other things like oil and gas and timber and even geoduck are auctioned off with the proceeds from the high bidder going to the public....too bad it goes to the government so it can be wasted. When it comes to the tribes they are now getting 50% of our natural resources off reservation property ...No new news here but what is left for the rest of us is being sold for next to nothing to a tiny number of diehards in a dying industry. Maybe we should study what happened to the buffalo.

A real left liberal would be complaining about making a profit at all....no corporate greed and all that.....I am focusing on a tiny minority who do not own or pay for the resource being allocated the largest non-tribal share. When did they get title to those crab? Same goes for shrimpers....lion's share of a finite resource for next to free. Why is that?

HOUSE BILL 2431
_____________________________________________

State of Washington 58th Legislature 2004 Regular Session

By Representatives Upthegrove, Cooper and Chase

Read first time 01/14/2004. Referred to Committee on Fisheries,
Ecology & Parks.


AN ACT Relating to Dungeness crab endorsement; amending RCW 77.32.430;
creating a new section; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 1. It is the intent of the legislature to
optimize the management of the recreational allocation of Dungeness crab in
Washington state. To accomplish this task, it is necessary to accurately and
efficiently quantify the total catch by recreational fishers for Dungeness crab
using data from catch record cards. Therefore, an endorsement fee on the catch
record card paid at the time of purchasing a recreational fishing license will
be required for Dungeness crab to specifically identify the recreational crab
harvesting population. The endorsement fee will significantly improve the
precision of the catch estimates by eliminating the current practice of sampling
fishers who do not participate in the recreational crab fishery.

Sec. 2. RCW 77.32.430 and 2003 c 318 s 1 are each amended to read as
follows:
(1) Catch record card(({- s -})) {+ information is +} necessary for proper
management of the state's food fish and game fish species and shellfish
resources{+ . Catch record card administration +} shall be (({- administered -
})) under rules adopted by the commission (({- and issued at no charge for the -
})){+ . There is no charge for an +} initial catch record card (({- and ten
dollars for -})){+ . E +}ach subsequent {+ or duplicate +} catch record
card(({- . A duplicate catch record [card] -})) costs ten dollars.
(2) {+ A license to take and possess Dungeness crab is only valid if the
fisher has in possession a valid catch record card officially endorsed for
Dungeness crab. The endorsement shall cost no more than three dollars including
any or all fees authorized under RCW 77.32.050.
(3) +} Catch record cards issued with affixed temporary short-term charter
stamp licenses are not subject to the ten-dollar charge (({- as -})) {+ nor to
the Dungeness crab endorsement fee +} provided {+ for +} in this section.
Charter boat or guide operators issuing temporary short-term charter stamp
licenses shall affix the stamp to each catch record card issued before fishing
commences. Catch record cards issued with a temporary short-term charter stamp
are valid for two consecutive days.
(3) The department shall include provisions for recording marked and
unmarked salmon in catch record cards issued after March 31, 2004.
(4) The funds received from the sale of catch record cards {+ and the
Dungeness crab endorsement +} must be deposited into the wildlife fund. {+ The
funds received from the Dungeness crab endorsement may be used only for the
sampling and monitoring of catch associated with the Dungeness crab recreational
fisheries. +}

{+ NEW SECTION. +} Sec. 3. This act takes effect December 1, 2004, and
applies only to those recreational licenses sold for the 2005-2006 Dungeness
crab fishery and to all subsequent recreational Dungeness crab fisheries.

--- END ---

4) The funds received from the sale of catch record cards {+ and the
Dungeness crab endorsement +} must be deposited into the wildlife fund. {+ The
funds received from the Dungeness crab endorsement may be used only for the
sampling and monitoring of catch associated with the Dungeness crab recreational
fisheries. +}

How many times have we seen this? Remember the $10 added to the license for Puget Sound salmon enhancement ONLY.....? Well right now that extra money we have been paying in for years is NOT being used for the stated purposes. It is currently being illegally diverted by WDFW.

Hopefully if the crab bill passes we will all keep our eyes on where all that extra money goes. I'm afraid if we don't do something like this we will lose our crabbing opportunities to the commercials and especially to the tribes who are threatening to sue over the lack of accurate catch recording for the sports sector.

grandpa, im with you on this.. ive said a few times.. does anyone here know how to start a initiative? we need to start diverting that money from license sales, boat tabs, shellfish licenses, back into a "fishing fund" rather the general fund.. we NEED to do this..i jus wish i knew how to get it started..and to word it in a way without loopholes, so the wdfg, cant be siphoning off it for pet projects, ie : parks.. jus for fish hatcheries, fish enhancement, and to keep the tribes's greedy fingers out of it too..

I can understand having good data on catches. Instead of having somebody do phone surveys would it be better to have everybody report periodically what they have caught via the internet to WDFW? The only problem I could see is if you don't have a computer then you might have to mail your data in.

If the tribes want to sue somebody why don't they sue those responsible for the oil spill in Edmonds that killed all the crab near Indianola?

I hope crabbing starts up soon

the prob with the tribes sue'n about this and that is..... they dont own the earth,,,there jus created like everyone else...they have no special priveleges , only in the sight of the government... we dont owe them nothing, why must we pay for the sins of our fathers, should the jews be compensated for what happened to them, what about the iraqis under the control of saddam... altho these may never be likely comparisons, but it brings up the point that life is unfair and people jus need to suck it up and roll with life.. not sit on there ass's and demand that they get there way in everything, what gives certain tribes to take peoples houses from them , or there farm land.. them things jus shouldnt happen today..