Will the Moratorium be rescinded?

There is a difference in what should be done and what will be done. Politics have gotten into this and we all know that the fish loose when this happens.

Well said JJ. And in the end we as anglers lose. Once these runs are destroyed there's nothing we can do repair the damage. It may not happen in our lifetimes but it will happen. Our selfish ways will ruin it for future generations.

JJ that is very true.

I voted for stay, because that's what I want, but looking back on it I believe that it might be removed for the same reasons JJ posted.

Sounds like you guys are getting your minds set for the inevitable! Good, it'll make it a lot easier for you when it gets rescinded.

That won't be the end of it Kurt.

Jerry I hope they can hash out something tho that will apease everyone.I know wishfull thinking

Well Jerry, follow the rules and do things right this time. No back room deals as in the end they are counterproductive and tend to bite one in the butt.... just like it did this time.


Good luck in your winter project.

However this thing turns out it could be the single most important issue that has come along for years. Not because it will or will not help fish but for the fact that this issue has open the eyes of the apathetic sportsmen of Washington. For once it seems that the uninterested fishermen of this state are finally getting off their lazy asses and getting involved. In the end this issue which ever way it turns out could do more for steelhead then the moratorium by itself. However you feel get involved and stay involved.

Kerry –
I can hope that you are correct and that folks stay involved in the fight for the resource. However experience has shown that is unlikely. Even those involved in this debate who have great passion for steelhead (both sides) represent just a very small fraction of these state’s anglers.

Unfortunately I haven’t seen or expect to see much of this interest translated to interest in other important arenas. It would appear that this interest is a single focus one (a very narrow one at that) with little carry over.

Hopefully folks will prove me wrong.

Tight lines
S malma

This whole moratorium thing seems to me to be more of an allocation, who gets what, issue that has been thinly disguised as one of conservation. As such, angler activism might be considered to be of paramount importance.

On the conservation side of the coin, it an attempt to preempt the normal guidance provided to the Commission by the WDFW professionals and usurp their regular wildlife management trust and duty with a politically motivated blanket policy.

In my opinion our resources are best managed on a day to day and case by case basis in accordance with the best science and the guidelines provided by law. I would not like to see our resources managed by the whims of public opinion.

"Show me the facts and data, they scream, but if they if they don't like what it says there's always politics"


Bill, Your perceptions are just what they are...perceptions. If following through the Commission process that is available to you and everyone else is crime, then the plead is "guilty as charged" In my opinion, the reason for your cry of "foul ball" is you do not believe the moratorium is justified, which is your own respected opinion. But don't give the tired BS that there was a "back room" deal. Embrace the fact that there is a process to go through.

Slimer hit the nail on the head.

Conservation is best served in the long run if wild steelhead have value to consumptive as well as non consumptive anglers.

Double Haul, read the rules and follow them. You guys didn't and got caught.

Follow them the next time or alienate even more fishermen.

Some of us just like to see the rules followed.

If you don't believe they weren't followed... then you have an ethics problem.

Also with all the uproar, it looks like lots of other fishermen see what happened the same way I do.

Ok so the natives are saved from the fishermen but what happens to the tribal nets that kill most of the native fish any way. I haven't heard any thig about them being restricted, or even watch dogged. B*** S#**, THERE NEEDS TO BE SOMETHING DONE IN THAT ARENA OR THIS WHOLE PROCESS IS A GOOD THING FILLED WITH COULDA SHOULDA PROPOGANDA.

Bill, Please provide a break down of what rules were violated?

My observation-
Testimony was provided at the public hearing in Port Townsend, which was open to anyone. Facts and data were used and presented to provide evidence to the Commission there is a downward trend of wild steelhead stocks playing out in Washington. The Commission choose to vote on the side of the resource and provide a "cease fire" through a moratorium to evaluate and allow time to come up with a improved "conservation" management plan for wild steelhead.

I respect the fact that you disagree with moratorium, but I will not allow the process that was followed to be called "unethical" and accused of "being caught" doing something wrong just because you have different opinion.

I believe no matter what I say will have an effect on your opinion, so let's agree to disagree.