I agree 100%

If they want traditional fishing grounds and rights then they should be held to traditional methods--from the tools and methods they use and even the clothes they have to wear.

Same with the Makah and the whales. If they want to gouge out a cedar log for a boat and use a long stick with a carved bone harpoon point to try and take on a 32000 lb. behemoth like they truly did traditionally, I'm all for it.
That wont happen though because of a few very common human conditions known as 'Lazy,' 'Greedy,' and 'Chickensh*t'.

It pisses me off when Natives try and feed me some "tradition" crap when they use GPS, helicopters, fiberglass boats with jetpumps, and plastic nets.

Oh And FYI, for the newbies, I happen to be native.

It's gonna suck when the the US is eventually conquered by the Chinese. If we are smart, we'll learn from the mistakes of our past, and ask for treaty rights, and ask for 50% of the salmon.

I claim dibs on the first "American Casino" in our region!

Chief Parker



PS. Instead of seeing run down "reservations", the conquered America of the future will have little plots of run down "white trash trailer parks". The TRUE piece of America!

Yup. I got dibs on the second!

Guys, Guys everything okay, at my work I was helping some nooksack tribal members who told me " we release all native fish" in my eventually heated conversation with them about fishery management. One gentlemen wanted to drive home the fact that it was their right over and over. Needless to say, they did no help for my opinion of the tribe, but did tend to strengthen the stereotype for their kind.

Time marches on and so should the treaty. The Tribes are not subsisting on the fish now and they won’t in the future either if the fish are gone. Fish traps allow only what is the intended fish stock to be harvested. All the other unintended fish are still alive and can be set free. The traps are set in one place and can be monitored for compliance. Gill nets if left in the water continue to kill unintended species. The nets need to be removed from the process of catching fish now. Ever notice as the technology improved (i.e. bigger boats, nets, better electronics, and understanding of the process of catching said fish) that the fish stocks in the world have gone down in number.

I am fishing according to the Laws of the land and powers to be. If I break the law the results are fines and other unpleasant things that the judges and state so deem. When they and the commercials are held to the standards and fines as the Sports for illegal catching and retention beyond what is allowed by LAW. Then we can be equal. Now we are not!

Why? Because of a treaty signed 150 years ago! Times change as do the results of our combined actions. If I am to be penalized for the actions of others beyond my control, why shouldn’t they also have to change and have limits?

I did not take their land! The wars where fought before my time and they lost and the treaties where signed. But we do not enforce all provisions of the treaty do we? Some items are not enforced do to changing of the times. Other outdated provisions of the treaty need to change.

Join CCA! I did! AND I WILL NOT GET USED TO IT. Times Change and so should the treaties!

I just got new numbers from last Thursdays 24hr Sockeye fishery in the lower Skagit. 97 springers, 17 of which were wild. 42 wild steelhead that brings their total up to 530 wild steelhead killed this winter/spring (they are going to keep up to 600). 0 Sockeye have been caught so far. The nets are going back in tomorrow for another 24hr kill fest, and have one more day schedueled for the following week. After that they should be out until the last week of June. Why don't the Feds stop them from killing ESA fish?

We are just temporary inhabitants....on this planet...soon enough we will all be gone..

I thought we had this long winded arguement many post ago, "The Indians don't target or take wild fish out of the Skagit" At least that was what was beat into me as I was called a Indian/commercial net basher! Hum

Im an indian/Commercial net basher. But hey, that's just how I roll.

GBL,

We only beat you up when you were getting it wrong. Taking it case by case, the current fishery, if it's really being prosecuted as a sockeye fishery, is a sham because the Baker sockeye don't begin running in good numbers for another 5 weeks. And as a spring chinook fishery, well, as we can see, it's a mixed stock fishery with what may be an acceptable incidental catch of wild spring chinook, but an unacceptable incidental catch of wild steelhead, based on the projected run size. When the facts support criticism, please, feel free to bash away.

Sg

But in all honesty, when is going to be a good idea to just shut down some rivers totally for a couple years? I know the logistics of shutting down an entire river to fishing for sport/commercial/tribal are pretty bad, but I'd rather see that than a river with no fish in a couple years. I mean hell, if they did close the skagit, the WDFW could make a killing handing out tickets to poachers. And maybe that money could go towards conservation, hatchery programs, etc.

Hell, they could make a killing handing out tickets to poachers up there now...but don't. The month of May has always been "poacher season" up there...they got April this year, too.

Fish on...

Todd

Closing down a river system to sportsfishing will benifit poachers as there are fewer eyes on the river. As to the fact of Indain netting, we will not stop it. Save your breath, I am against netting on mixed stocks like everyone else. Truth is if not for native fishing rights there would most likely be LESS fish available. Indains have treaty rights to fish and the state and federal goverments have obligations to provide fish for them to catch. The dam mitigations are not for you and I if we are non-indain. They are an obligation to the treaty indains. When hatcheries were first put in on the lower Columbia prior to the dams they were for comercial fishers not sports fishing. They were to provide abundant comercial catch while the native runs were being deminished due to over fishing. Hatchery facilities were put in above Bonneville after the dam was errected to sustain runs for the treaty tribes. Their rights to fish were not fully utilized until after the Bolt decision. Prior to Bolt the Indains took fewer fish on most systems now they take their full +share and we compete with the non indain comercial for what's left. The indains didn't overfish the Skagit, the comercial and sports fishers did that and then the two dams reduced spawning areas and the numbers dropped until you have what we have today. R.I.P Skagit

not to go off topic but tribal fisherman were using gill nets before us white folk were ever here. They weren't made of nylon with stryrofoam floats but instead used rolled cedar bark tied together for the net and rocks to holdthe bottem down. Other pieces of dried wood floated the top of the net. A few south sound tribes still have these nets on display.

They used to wipe thier asses with corn cobs too! Maybe we should ban them form using toilet paper and make them use corn husks and cobs instead?

I was up there last week and saw few nates drift netting...

I saw one pass on 300yards of water and saw them pull out 5 steelies...

I thought you had to anchor your net at one end at least? The old alaska way....

Netting sucks! But drift netting REALLY SUCKS!

As far as native rights go...... I say...

its a new world. we need to work together to fix it... no special
privilage... SORRY.. you pick... gambling money or fish!

Treaties are laws... and laws were made to be outgrown... and changed...when they are no longer appropriate or fitting,
not to last forever!

I am Irish... my ancestors have been getting the shaft for hundreds of years. You will get used to it... I have...

Earn a living like everyone else I know!

here come the flame throwers... I know I am trying to turn water into wine... But hey... it tastes better!

Salmo-
This post prove my point again.
The Indians have been netting every species of fish in the Skagit for years, if I told you what we used to do to the nets back in the early 70's I would end up in jail.
It is not mis-guided, I lived it from the mid 60's till today when it still goes on.
What pisses me off is the people that make some kind of excuse for the Indian and commercials that somehow it is Ok for them to do what they do becuase we have a treaty or "law" protecting them.
Wrong is wrong, the Indians are just proving the point once again and will get aways with it again. They will kill more Native Steelhead that will end up on some plate on a Northwest Flight to Japan than the whities kill all year in the whole state. And in the end, they will blame whitie and/or the habitat.
No different than the ocean netters using stupid rules and regulations to obliterate whole runs of fish in the ocean. Both US and foreign.

I don't agree with nets period, but I don't think they should be allowed to drift net! It is really common in the Hamilton area, and then again just above the forks. Last fall I was acnchored up looking down to rig up some kwikfish, a tribal boat proceeded to drift net the run I was anchored in. They drug the net over my anchor line and then it caught in my kicker. I was not a happy camper and if I were confident they weren't packing heat I would have trimmed up my jet and given them a cold shower!!

Grass Hopper I will burn beside you.
Times do change and to net and kill the Bycatch that They SAY they are not after is wrong. With fish traps the unintended bycatch can be released unharmed. The Tribes need to step up and do the right thing and fish GREEN and not be killing and selling the fish for Money unless they have a Commercial License. SUBSISTANCE, not profit