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 !!

It is amazing how much this "agency" has grown. ONce B Frank told me that if you hang around and cause enough fuss with the State sooner or later they will put you to work just to shut you up.

Anyway just keep making noise . it can't hurt .

http://www.nwifc.org/aboutus/staff.asp

You have no idea how true the first three sentences of your post are.. and its not just the various game depts.. its the sportsmen as well... same folks that can't even get something as simple as WSR passed want to fight with the tribes now about allocations...

Rally.

Shut down I-5 at Olympia with rigs and trailers. It will certianly get someones attention.

Rally.

Shut down I-5 at Olympia with rigs and trailers. It will certianly get someones attention.

You are right Kev, I'm with ya. I will be sending out a couple of e-mails today. I can't participate in anything this weekend (work sucks) but if some one here organizes something after that I will participate.

The key is finding out where those fish are ending up. Restaurants, markets, overseas? The first two could be put on notice that they face bad publicity for selling illegally caught fish. In my mind that's exactly what these are "illegally caught fish". Hey a bumper sticker idea..."don't buy illegally caught fish". Might make people think and query before they purchase.

Who were the morons that approved this season with no quota???Unbelievable!!
Heads should roll in whatever dept. based a no quota season on assumptions.

Just wondering how they were illegally caught when it was a no quota open season??

I said in my mind they were illegally caught. Since they aren't governed by our laws no amount is illegal per say even when there is a "quota".

Sounds to me like the tribes should be done for a while as the sporties and commercials go after there's this summer and fall.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

P.S. Boycot Neah Bay this summer.

I called the State yesterday and a man named Phil Anderson called me back today but I was out. Does any one know who he is? LB

I think that Phil is one of the state reps at the NOF meetings that are held with the public. If I remember right he is high up in WDFW on salmon.

We should also all remember that they (the Makah) jacked up the slip rates on all of the guides who aren't native at the marina built with Federal? dollars last year. I could be remembering this wrong but I'm pretty sure I'm right.
I'm all for them whacking another whale but cheating on the king quota and treating others badly doesn't sit well with me.
As I said on another post I'll fish Neah this year if it's open but I will run my boat there from Seiku or Snow and not stop in Neah Bay Harbor.

They didn't follow through with the threatened increase last year but I hear that it is on their table again this year.

You know what really kills me about this whole thing??? Not one peep from the WDFW. I check the WDFW website daily for news and updates (so I can keep abreast of all the closures and such to make sure I am in 100% compliance with the law)... although this whole debacle is BIG NEWS to our angling community, nobody at the WDFW has the sack to make a statement about this mess.

I have some connections in Olympia and I am trying to get a list of representatives/senators that are histoically sympathetic to the sport fishing community. As soon as I get some names I will post them here, and hopefully we will find someone to champion our views and be our voice.

Big Salmon Resort is dead to me!

...Maybe I've been watching to much Sopranos...