I dont know all the details but from what I have heard the WDFW gave all fish above minimum escapement to the tribe for comercial harvest. Sport harvest and CnR impact is suposed to come out of the minimum escapement 2400 fish. Meaning the river is going to be managed for under escapement.

The tribe can nett as many days a week as it takes to harvest predicted # of fish over minimum escapement.

This happened 2 days prior to the commision making its decision on the 1 fish per year.

If this is true the WDFW just set precidence they gave the Hoh tribe twice what the boldt decision gave them and forgone opportunity didnt even have to be claimed.

It appears the state gave our fish away to stay out of court.

Rich, if that's true that SH. What's your source?

There are some people in the Forks area that have the actual release from the WDFW.

It was released to them one week after the commission meeting.

Im not going to mention their names, they can do that when they are ready.

I wasnt going to say anything untill I actually saw the document but It pisses me off so much I couldnt control myself

I didn't expect names, but thanks for further info. I'm sure we'll all be watching this one. If it's true it pisses me off, too.

I failed to mention this is for wild winter steelehad.

It looks bad never the less but it would have looked alot worse if they would have decided to up hold the mortorium.

Do you think this had anything to do with the decision that was made?

It is awful nice the WDFW is looking out for our best interests.

Rich didn't the Hoh get WDFW to give them more fish last winter? The one's that we couldn't harvest.I guess there will be no more wild steelheaad in the Hoh.

The reason the tribes get a larger share of the larger runs is because the non-tribal harvest will not be greater than about 15% because of the restrictive non-tribal harvest rules.

Just be glad that the moratorium was rescinded because there was language in the settlement providing for the re-negotiation of an even larger tribal share if the moratorium had been upheld.

If the one fish annual limit is still in effect the tribal harvest will be increased with the next round of allocation negotiations.

Plunk,

So instead of the state just handing the fish over like they did why are they not trying to protect our interests and our opportunity isnt it the states job to get us the best deal possible?

Was it not the intent of the decision to help protect fish stocks from to much harvest?

I never heard any position from any non tribal angler that they wanted the tribe to harvest the excess fish.

Maybe its time for us to band together and file a lawsuit agianst the state.

Maybe its time for the guides, sport anglers and small towns throught the state where msimanagement and overharvest by the comanagers has lost them jobs and revenue to band together and sue the state of washington and tribes. People need to be held accountable for what has happened and what is still happening.

The state has let the tribes have everything thay want for far to long.

We have gotten screwed for many years by the same government agencies that are supposed to represent our interests.

Nothing in our current fisheries system is working in our state, its all bandades, we need major surgery!

Whereas, the Hoh run of wild steelhead is decreed healthy by WDFW; and

Whereas, the Treaty of Quinault reserves 50% of the harvestable surplus to the Hoh Indian Tribe; and

Whereas, if either the treaty or non-treaty harvestable shares is not harvested by its respective entity, the other party may harvest the foregone surplus; and

Whereas, the non-treaty citizens fish steelhead upstream of the Hoh Indian Tribe;

Be it therefore resolved that the WDFW Commission enact a sport gill-netting season on the Hoh River, open as many days as necessary from January 1 to April 30, to harvest fully the non-treaty share of 50% of the harvestable surplus of wild Hoh River steelhead.

Be it further resolved that the WDFW Commission requires each sport gill-netter to obtain a specific permit from WDFW and to register his or her catch daily with the WDFW regional office so as to accurately assess the harvest, up to, and including, the full 50% predicted harvestable share.

Signed: the gang of 9.

There, don't ya' think that oughta' take care of this problem? Either the non-treaty sector gets its legal allocation, or fish it out, and there won't be anything left to argue over.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

What is the allowed allotment of fall Chinook and Coho for the Hoh tribe to harvest in the fall?
Does the Hoh tribe net the lower Hoh 7 days a week in the fall (Oct, Nov, and Dec)?

Salmo g:

That's certainly one way to do it.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... would the last guy to kill the very last wild Hoh River steelhead please remember to turn the water off?

Didnt you all know that this would happen? This was a for sure thing, most of you whined and cried about how we should release all wild fish, well what did you think was going to happen, thats right, the indians would not only get their shair of the fish, but all the ones that most of you were trying to protect, so it looks like we will all pay for that one, sweet. I am not pointing fingers or even getting upset, I was one of the ones that stayed silent during all the moritorium hoopla, but a hand full of us discussed that this is what would happen if the moritorium passed, would any of you have listened, no not at all. So now we can be sure that those fish will be wiped out, not just a possibility.

Im with matt e. on this one!! (give it away-give it away now)

Git off me paw you're crushin' my smokes.

Frankly i don't care one way ot the other. o consider it no loss whatsoever if the tribe gets all the harvestable surplus or the harvestable surplus is divided between the tribes and the sporties. a dead fish is a dead fish and dead fish don't make baby fish to catch 3-4 years later. any of you who likes to harvest even an occasional wild steelhead should have NO SAY in this matter you are just as guilty..

Here is what i have been trying to tell you guys for years now and it should be painfully obvious now.... WDFW does not give a **** about you, about sport fishing or about wild steelhead! THEY DO NOT CARE!!!! quit playing your little games about whats the best way to manage the resourse in terms of harvest it doesn't matter.. harvest is harvest and harvest has ALWAYS IN EVERY SINGLE CASE ruined steelhead runs.. Harvest is the problem, sport tribal or whatever.. we need to flat out end the harvewst of steelhead PERIOD.. anything short of that is doomed to failure and WDFW is dead set on obeying their God (MSY) They literally worship a mathematical model and trust in it despite all evidence to the contrary. They worship it inspite of it leading every steelhead run in the state of ruin to the brink of extinction ( except thoes now in question).

If you are missing my point here it is..

MSY is wrong and as long as WDFW continues to use it to manage wild steelhead stocks there is no point in arguing any element of harvest.. The same number of fish will die. A surplus if wild steelhead is an ill fated concept, a river knows and naturally limits how many fish it can handle and if there are too many it will work that out on it's own.. but the A..es at WDFW think they know more than God about steelhead..
here is the solution, scrap MSY, fire Bob Gibbons and make it clear that he is being fired because of gross neglegence and incompetence and that his entire career at WDFW is a failure. also can Koenig.. They are failures and need to be canned.. we need a WDFW that cares about wild steelhead and is willing to tell the tribes and us sporties to go to hell and do whats right to save the fish!

Get er done then hot shot, just like you tried to get the moritorium done. I dont think that I said that I kept wild fish did I, thanks for the input though.

I'm afraid that RA3 is right.

Well said RA3.

To clarify this for me as well as others, if a harvestable limit of 1000 fish is declared, then the Indian fishery can take 500 and the non-treaty can take 500. If either side can’t harvest their 500 fish, then the other side can harvest the fish until the 1000 harvestable quota is met. With the “new” one wild fish annual limit, versus the 5 fish limit of previous years, the 4 fish that are not harvested by non-treaty fisherman will now go toward the Indian harvest. Is this a correct interpretation??