OMFG!

WTF!

For once on this board, I am truly speechless!

Kind of a side note....Not so long ago the Halibut advisory groups had meetings with the Makahs about helping them with spreading the halibut season out so it is not concentrated in such a short window. One proposal was to open the straits inside instead of the Sekiu River as the Western most boundary it would be moved to the Tatoosh -Bonilla line....The proposal was shelved because a halibut fishery early in the season in area 4B (Neah Bay) would cause undo impact to the numerous Chinook stocks milling in the area. The group sat down at the table with the Makahs....to help them....

So all the while the Makahs were about to embark on a uncontrolled harvest of the same stocks we were trying to help protect.

Bottom line to me is that the tribes do not do what is best for the resource but harvest as many fish as they can get away with. They do this with no oversight....no monitoring and no verification. Essentially they are rogues in co-manager's clothing. WDFW supposedly manages hand in hand with the tribes but it is quite obvious that when WDFW is not pandering to the non-tribal commercial over harvesters they are bowing to kiss the asses of the tribes.

We could very well see severe cutbacks in our 2005 / 2006 salmon seasons while the Makahs will most likely just keep on fishing. I . too, am sick to my stomach.

This is crazy and no doubt in my mind that we as sportfishers are going to be the ones that end up having to make up for this slaughter. Doesn't it always fall on us when either the tribes or the commercials over harvest? Why would it be any different this time.

Im all for a boat convoy to Olympia. I think it is time to speak up now before the season gets set and we get screwed. I also think it would be great if someone from the sportfishing community who has a lot of influence, like a Dave Vedder type, were to contact the reporter who wrote the story to see if he/she would followup with our point of view.

God, I wish we were organized as well as the commercials and the tribes - one organization speaking for all of us.

Just pi$$ed about this!

I urge everyone to write to their legislator on this one. WDFW is responsible for protecting our fish and wildlife resources, and they really dropped the ball. We need to get this issue out in the open, and make a big stink with the people in Olympia!

Personally, I have been boycotting Neah Bay for each of the last 21 years. I have my reasons. The recent actions by the Tribe have just bolstered my resolve.

Hi all, this is my first post on this board. I have stopped in several times and like the board. After reading all of the posts, I wanted to share my two cents. I spend way too much time in Olympia and not nearly enough time fishing.

I will give you some boring information first, but it may help. The legislature is currently in session creating budgets for the State for the period of July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2007. (This directly affects all State agencies) The big issue in Olympia is money - or the lack of it. So action needs to happen as soon as possible. If not, the window will close. The sooner the better, by late April it will be too late.

I would go after the problem from as many angles as possible. Luckily you can send the same information a lot of times so it cuts down on the writing time.

The boycott idea should bring the tribe to the table due to the impact on their local economy. I would contact the tribe also and let them know how much money they will be losing from you.

I would write your State senators and representatives ASAP. Remind them of the money you spend as taxpayers and let them know how much you spend per year on fishing. Ask them to look into how this could happen and request their assistance in making sure it doesn't happen again.

I would contact (e-mail) the Governor's office with the same information. The Governor announced last week that she wants State agencies to be held accountable through a new accountability program. Now is the time to put it to the test.

I would send the same information to DFW. This closes off the typical government escape route: "we weren't aware of the concern and will look into it." (at least stall until after the legislative session is over and we have our budget for the next two years)

The local newspapers and TV stations are great for generating pressure. Send the story around and give your personal perspective. It may generate some interest on how it impacts their local citizens.

My final comment is to do everything above, if possible, in email. This creates a log for you to remind all of the groups above about their responsibilities and lack of performance.

The situation has to change, and this is a great chance to show how badly it is currently being handled. It is frustrating to have to jump through this many hoops, but to have an impact the game has to be played by their rules.

Last comment: the more people writing, the better.

I just posted a link on the forum that will let folks find out how to contact their state and federal legislators.

I've sent mine a copy of the article along with a request that they do what they can to make sure the overage isn't taken out of the recreational fishery. It is a tribal management problem and the impacts should go to their quota.

Vic: why not? It's better than sitting around on a BB complaining! I think we need to rally on Olympia (Aren't there Commission meetings there this weekend? Might be good timing to be heard!), the NOF Committee needs to hear our concerns as well as the Pacific Fishery Management Council along with yours/mine/our local legislators. Might be a good time to call our new Governor on the carpet and demand her to get involved.
Vic it sounds like you are given'up? Come'on man, I know you better than that! This is a fight worth fighting for, the straw the broke the camels back. My biggest fear is that we lose the momentum of today and not do anything about it.

WHAT'S THE PLAN?

Who's going to lead this? Grandpa , fishNphysician, Slabquest, Todd, Downriggin', AuntyM (Sorry, but you all are a natural leaders).

What about getting other Fishing Bulletin Boards rallying together (Gamefishin.com, Stealheader.net, Ifish.com to name a few) delivering the same message? I know several people are members on all these boards and it might be time for the owners to talk (put down some differences for the time being) and use the power of several thousand people and bombard Olympia, the media and anyone else that will listen.

Sorry, I'm tired, I'm rambling, I'm just sick of getting kicked in the teeth and don't want to settle for a Pink only season in the Sound this summer.
Oh boy....

Kev

Friday morning at 9am, Saturday at 8:30...those are the times for "open public comment" at the Commission meeting this weekend...any topic of concern can be brought up.

If you go on Saturday, then you can comment on this at 8:30, watch the Department do the PowerPoint Dog&Pony Show on the Columbia, and then comment on that, too.

Fish on...

Todd

Here's my letter. Anyone feel free to lift any parts of it to form your own letter:

I am writing to express my extreme frustration and displeasure about Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) mismanagement oversight regarding the blatant overharvest of chinook salmon by the Makah Tribe winter troll fishery in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A harvest guideline of 500 chinook salmon was exceeded more than 40-fold, with dire consequences for recreational, non-tribal commercial, and other tribal net fisheries “upstream” of the gross overharvest. This travesty was exposed in the February 1 edition of the Seattle Times and over-fishing continues unabated as I write this letter.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/fishing/2002166414_salmon01.html

The principle “co-managers” should be held to FULL account for allowing this incident to happen. It is a crime against all other users of the resource as well as ESA-listed stocks of chinook from the Columbia River basin to Puget Sound. The Makah should be made to pay for its greed by forgoing future harvest allocations equivalent to its gross and willful overharvest. WDFW administrators should be fired for allowing such atrocities to occur under their watch. An open-ended season without a defined harvest quota should have NEVER been allowed to occur! Is this really all the taxpayers of Washington get for the bloated salaries these incompetent managers are paid? This is absolutely inexcusable!

As an avid angler who spends thousands of dollars a year to sport fish for salmon in this state, I am discouraged by higher and higher license fees for less and less angling opportunity. Sport salmon seasons are cut short, bag limits reduced, fishing gear restricted, and wild salmon are placed off-limits to retention. That’s not to say that such measures aren’t good for ailing fish stocks. However, when anglers sacrifice so much for the benefit of fish restoration, while other users are permitted to indiscriminately overharvest threatened stocks, it simply is NOT fair! For too long, the burden of conservation has fallen heaviest on the shoulders of those contributing the most to fund the management of the resource. Wherever fisheries are mismanaged to allow overharvest by tribal and commercial fishermen, be it in the open ocean, Juan de Fuca Strait, Puget Sound, or the Columbia River, the sports are the first to take it in the shorts. I am writing you to declare that enough is enough! Your constituents deserve better… way better!

This incident is a wake-up call to decision makers that the system is in a state of woeful disrepair. It’s high time we get it fixed before we allow the “co-managers” to harvest ESA-listed salmon stocks to extinction.

Sincerely yours


FRANCIS V. ESTALILLA, M.D.
1720 Sumner Ave
Aberdeen WA 98520

I guess Greenpeace only harasses the Makahs when it involves sea mammals....... If the rally is organized, I will be there, even if it jeapordizes my job.

The wife and I would also load the boat up and join a rally.I think the Makah crap and the Columbia gillnetting should both be focused on.
If the Makahs themselves are reporting 20,000 fish caught.How many did they really catch?

I don't want to derail the subject but I want to get a better understanding of the numbers being thrown around.

Does anyone have some links to commercial chinook ( or all salmon species ) catch in past years? I just want to know on what scale this really messed things up.

I know it sounds like a good idea but if the Boldt ruling is recinded does anyone really think any tribe will stop netting the hell out of the resourses? I'll be sending my e-mails & my 1st thought was the Governor. The more they all receive the more it might get more media coverage & pressure to do something right. Just do it.

What timing...The Roche Harbor Salmon Derby is taking me away for 4 days. The good news is that some of the participants are key figures in the sports fishing advocacy community so atleast I will have a couple of days to stratagize about this Makah problem.

My bottom line is that the tribes just cannot be left alone to monitor their own harvest without verification from WDFW or NOAA. This notion that we can't touch them just cannot stand anymore. There are too many examples of abuse and downright criminal behavior to sit here while the tribes thumb their collective noses at us.

The sports fishing community will unite.

I also sent the following to Mark Yuasa at the times to encourage him to follow up on this story.


Mark,
Thank you for publishing this article on the severe overfishing that has occured on winter chinook by the Makah tribe. Your article has drawn quite a bit of attention from several sportfishing bullentin boards that I participate in. It is an understatement to say that the sportfishing community is outraged by this blatant abuse of the resource. I would like to encourage you to follow up on this story with the answer to three important questions.

1. Jan 10, when the count was reported is three weeks ago. If the Makah are still fishing as implied in your article, what is the total catch now?

2. What are the consequences to the Makah tribe for this extreme overfishing? I believe their right to fish commercially should be terminated. Through Jan 10 they had caught their allocation of chinook for the next 39 years, assuming that it can safely stay at present levels.

3. How will the seasons for sportfishing and other commercial and tribal fisherman be affected?

Best Regards,
John Manthey
(sportfisherman and long term Seattle Times subscriber)

I just caught this early this am. This is absolutely outrageous. But I will remind everyone that this isn't the first time the Makahs have done this. About 5 or 6 years ago the same statistics were brought out about 8 months after the fact. It was noted then that they had taken many thousands over there number of winter chinook. Again nothing was done. And this is only when we catch wind of it. I believe firmly that they do this every winter. Nobody is out there watching or counting what they're catching.
FnP, you wrote a very good letter and I will gladly copy some of it to add to the letter I'm sending to everyone I can think of. If one of us did something even on minor scale like say take 10 times our allotment, we'd be in jail. The tribes don't even get their damn wrist slapped. Rally I'll be there. When and where is the question?

Good positive thoughts by all. I think we should also write to our new Gov. and ask her to call for a federal investigation into this matter. An investigation that will cover both managers of the fishery. Also writting to Mark Yuasa and asking for more follow ups and that they become front page is also wise. But I think it better that you write your letter to him as a very concerned citizen than a sport fisherman. No matter who is at fault in this affair our WDFW must take a large part of the blame. I know they co-manage and that they are under staffed and get little money but they still must step forward and take responsibility for one of the greatest environmental disasters this state has ever wittnessed. The director and his top staff of old school thinkers need to be fired or step down.

I'm getting on this a bit late but here goes...

I love this one...."The tribe could not be reached for comment." I really thought they would answer the phone this time.

I don't know what else to say. I'm just glad there hasn't been any pro-tribes grandstanding on this string saying that there's probably a good explanation for this.

REVOLT! It's time to reverse the Boldt decision. Washington State is the ONLY state that allows the tribes to be "co-managers" of all living natural resources and gives them 50% of harvests. This has made Washington a laughing joke by every other state's fish and wildlife departments.
The tribes are irresponsible "co-managers". Does anyone believe the Makah tribe didn't know they were going over their 500 fish limit, when they got to 20,000??
Has anyone seen tribes selling salmon or crab alongside hiways? Fish and shellfish that are never counted, while sportsmen sit on the beach and watch them rape our waters.
Sportsmen have gotten the attention of the WDFW by uniting against the unfair crab seasons. It's time to remain united against unfair salmon allocations and the irresponsible tribal "co-managers".
Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) where are you now? Help sportsmen find relief from the injustice of the federal decision we live under. There is certainly enough documentation that the tribes are abusing their "rights".
REVOLT NOW !!