FYI-

Press Release, October 27, 1999

The Washington State Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers endorses
Initiative - 696

The Washington State Council of the Federation of Fly Fishers (WSCFFF),
a
non-profit organization that is a voice for organized fly fishing and
promotes conservation of recreational resources, recommends support for
Initiative 696. The initiative would ban most commercial fishing nets
from
Washington marine or fresh waters, except tribal fishing conducted
under
valid treaty rights. It would also prohibit commercial troll fishing
in
Washington state waters.

The WSCFFF feels that passage of Initiative 696 will have a positive
effect
on conservation and recovery of Washington’s wild salmon stocks. This
initiative might not be perfect, in that it will not solve all of the
habitat, dam and other problems faced by Washington’s wild salmon. But
objective reviews of the scientific data and history of salmon
management
show that overfishing is a significant part of the problem. Initiative
696
will eliminate some overfishing by simply taking away net options that
are
currently available to fish managers.

Rich, That's really good news! Thanks for the post. I hope the major media outlets do something with this info. KPLU-FM(88.5)has been running Tom Nelson's pro I-696 statement today as part of their Election 99 coverage.