Check this out: Makah Greed

I'm so angry I don't know what to say or how to vent! I know how about, "Boycott Neah Bay!"

I saw that, too. UNBELIEVABLE! 20,000 chinook is more than the rest of the Puget Sound harvest combined, I believe.

What is the state going to do? Kinda hard to co-manage a resource when you don't really have a committment from all the co-managers.

I personally am going to write a letter to their Tribal chair and let them know that I am disappointed that they are exercising their treaty rights in this way. With rights comes responsibilities! And, any plans that I had about dropping some $$$ in Neah Bay have changed.

Wow that is bad. Who can we contact to discuss our displeasure.

"the tribe could not be reached for comment"

I especialy like that one.

Looks like someone screwed up and put out the real numbers. Im sure someone will be out of a job or already is.

Lets all give the State a big hand in this one. Way to go State. Now i know why I saw fresh fish the past few weeks very cheep. LB

"I'm not sure what the effect will be, but it doesn't look good and we had assumed that the catch was going to be 500 fish," said Phil Anderson, a state Fish and Wildlife salmon policy coordinator.

Just assumed. Is that what we pay these guys for, to assume?
Maybe I need to switch careers.


"The implications of this large catch are quite serious," Pattillo said. "The specific impacts are uncertain at this time, but it is likely that this catch will affect ocean (and Puget Sound) fishing opportunities."

We all know what that means! In this world anytime a quota is "accidentally exceeded" by the tribes or commercials, the sportfisherman ALWAYS takes it in the ass. Just you wait and see. I wonder if the Tribe or Commercials will get any type of shortened seasons as a result of this issue? ..not holding my breath.


Each year when state, federal, tribal, sport and commercial fishing constituents set salmon seasons, they come up with estimates on the number of fish that can be taken in all fisheries and are expected to stay within that ballpark figure.


"We will be contacting (the) Makah to discuss the issue and will request they close the fishery," Pattillo said.

Sounds like the typical slap on the wrist to me.
Does anyone know what types of action the WDFW can take in the event of this type of crime? ...yes it is criminal IMO!

500 fish was probably going to be used for ceramonial & sustinance purposes. \

I can hear the tribal coordinators now...."But hey, now that they have 19,500 more than we thought maybe we could sell some?"

Quite disgusting.

But, I would say thank you to Mark Yuasa and the Times for making this latest travesty public.

Traditionally, this type story was ignored by the media due to not being politically correct.

The greatest myth of all is the "great respect for the resource" that the tribes project. Maybe someday, the public will catch on to the truth.

Would these fish be primarily blackmouth, or spring run fish?

In light of the fact that the PFMC sport quota for the entire coast (including Oregon) was 39,500 Chinook, and the fact that Neah Bay and La Push area sport fishing quotas together only amounted to 5,600 Chinook, I would expect that the extra 19,500 fish harvested by the Makah will have a significant impact on the Sport quotas for the 2005 season. It is beyond my comprehension how a group can be so irresponsible with a shared resource and there seems to be no consequences.

They are mostly blackmouth, but I'm sure there are some Springers.

Are these not the same bunch that shot the whale a few years back with a 50 cal after paddling around in a fancy canoe they built ??? Maybe offer them another one.. I am sure the last one was real tasty.

why is that "assumptions" like this are never made in state's with properly managed fisheries.

If a mistake of this magnitude does happen, it seems that an immediate closure would result, not a chicken-**** politically correct comment like "...we will be trying to contact the Makah tribe to discuss possibly closing the fishery." If the indians aren't answering their phones (mild sarcasm), how about someone cab up and make a drive. How hard would it be to call an "emergency" meeting with the indians, for the sake of everyone's fishery.

Exactly what you get when the rats guard the cheese. These weasels should not be alowed to fish for the next 39 years since they burned their quota up for that period. I wanna puke. Thats showing alot respect for the fish and nature.

What are the potential adverse consequences to the Makah? Probably somewhere between few and none. This is the fundamental reason why there is little incentive to "co-manage" a shared resource by any way other than taking the biggest share you can, especially when you take your share first. The Makah are not popular with some of the Puget Sound tribes who necessarily fish after the Makah have caught their share, whatever percent of the harvest it is. I once heard a Makah fisheries manager - back in the 1970s mind you - say that they regarded 50% of the harvestable salmon passing Neah Bay as the Makah's rightful share, essentially cutting off all other Puget Sound area tribes from their treaty reserved fisheries.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

and WDFW
still has the audacity to say " we will REQUEST them to stop netting". how bout the people REQUESTING the WDFW to leave our state....we can take no more of their corruption, collusion and incompetence

if we do not take control of WDFW we are doomed. and folks wonder how radical environmentalism got started? i say let all the radical environmentalists sink as many commercial boats as they can both white and red....


better yet i think i just made my decision to boycott buying anymore licenses.... i am done paying for others theft

The tribes screwed up and the overharvest should come from the tribal portion of the remaining catch. The Makahs typically have a large harvest of Chinooks in May and June and the 20k need to come from their share. No one elses.

I suggest sending your comments to the Fish & Wildlife Commission with a cc to
Director Koenings, WDFW. Koenings is at:koenijpk@dfw.wa.gov
The Commission is at: commission@dfw.wa.gov

I just want to see pacificnw try to defend that catch in this forum. It should prove interesting!

http://www.attrition.org/mirror/attrition/1999/05/26/www.makah.org/resource.html

here is a link as well with many contact #'s of makah locations... it is from back in the whale hunt days but i bet the #'s are the same.

i know i will be calling them to inform them at bvig salmon and the tyee hotel and others that i will be canceling the 2-3 weeks i was planning on fishing there this summer

Notice the line that say "through January 10", almost a month ago. How many more fish since then???

How far is it from Olsens in CQ to decent halibut water?? I was planning on spending some time in Neah this summer but they will not be seeing a nickle of my cash. I would love to hear any alternatives to fishing the area without spending any money in tribal buisnesses.
As far as co-managers of the resource I think this finally shows that the tribes have no interest in co-management. If you want to put the screws to these guys lets take the fish they caught out of the other tribes quota. Let the other tribes feel the sting of their greed. I know they will all claim that they are not makaws and don't deserve to take a hit for the makaws greed but I don't care what they say. They pool their resources to go to court and to lobby the legislature and any other time they want some hand out or special treatment, so let them pool their fish just like they do their money, and it looks like the tribes pool of fish is empty for awhile.