Hey Bob, Could you do me a favor and go down and check the tibal nets to see if they are Y2K Compliant, Thanks

I'll go check them... With a big knife, and several bales of hay over the bridge...

Tom

Hell, in my book, they're not compliant today ... don't see any reason why they'd be any different next year!!! Maybe we'll get really lucky and find out, like some comouters will be destined to do, they'll disintigrate at 12:01 AM on Jan 1 .. just in time for some free passage for the 'nates!

Who knows... Maybe for new years, we can all get a 6 pack, and target certain rivers, and make em disintegrate... *LOL*

Tom

Hey, maybe the sea lions, otters, killer whales, mergansers, sculpins, eagles, ospreys
and anything else that competes for "our" fish will go away 01/01/00.

Letty ... it would be nice to see sea lions / seals at normal historic populations ... but the remainder of the predators you mention are part of the wild and play an essential role in the natural selection process ... slow, weak, or diseased ones get it ... the tough ones don't.

Unfortunately gillnets (and yes, some sporties) often kill a higher percentage of the biggest, strongest (repeat spawners forced to run the gauntlet of nets a few times) members of the population ... those are things that need to go ...

No question native fish are important. Fishing on these stocks has to be carefully monitered. In some cases not at all. I guess I had hoped that this site would stay away from finger pointing and tribal bashing and continue to provide information, tips, and advice.

I don't think it is so much tribal bashing, but the practice of fishing with gill nets, that is frowned upon. I would be against it if any group did it. I think there are other options such as fish wheels, that could be explored. But one group isn't to blame. A mesh wall doesn't help the runs of fish though.

I don't see any "tribal bashing" in the above posts ... I see "net bashing".

I don't quite understand why it is that any time people bad-mouth nets, we're "Indian bashing" ... hear it all the time up here from both the Quillayutes and the Hoh.

Guess what, the state of WA, as messed up as it is, had the foresight to ban commercial netting of steelhead in the rivers nearly 70 years ago ... they also stopped in-river netting of salmon (with the exception of the Columbia of course) ... so there is just one user group indescriminately netting the rivers ... that happens to be the tribes.

Letty, can you honestly say that you see a difference in the bashing of in-river nets compared to non-tribal commercials (I-696??). Until the nets are gone ... they will be one day ... we'll probably have to see the runs totally collapse before they do go.

Let go of this Indian bashing thing ... it's the practice ... and we'd be screaming just as loud (if not louder as some stay silent in fear of being politically incorrect) if they were of some other heritage.

Here's some more bashing: heard at our local guide's meeting tonight that the state says that the Quillayute tribe is estimated to have taken 80% of the returning wild coho run this year ...

Have also heard rumor that the whale meat of the grey whale killed up north was stored in a locker ... supposedly it failed ... and the meat has been dumped.

One more thing I heard tonight that I hadn't heard before: some kids from E. Washington dipnetted Snyder Creek last spring near the guides' hatchery ... took about ten fish ... ran out of gas around Kalaloch and WFDW officer stopped to see if they needed help ... need I say more?? GOTCHA!

[This message has been edited by Bob (edited 11-30-1999).]

Bob, I think you forgot some other user groups that are using nets in-river. Try Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay non-tribal gill net fisheries. Yes, they did fish this year.

I don't want to trade rumors, that won't help anyone. I guide behind 20-65 nets year around and we have plenty of fish to catch. I also realise we a fortunate to have two hatcheries on The Quinault watershed. Perhaps the way they do business might be a way to provide more fish?

Potter ... note the words Bay and Harbor ... and no, I'm not fond of either of these ... both fisheries are fishing over mixed stocks, some healthy, others not ... especially in light of the returns to the Grays Harbor streams.

Along these lines, did the Quinaults cease netting the Hump this year despite the projected low returns of chinook and wild coho stocks that shut down the sports harvest for either of these stocks?? Doesn't the Boldt Decision state that both parties must participate in conservation efforts??

The Quinaults do a fine job with their hatcheries ... the state could certainly take some lessons, agreed .... but are hatchery-reared fish the answer to the long-term health of our stocks??? No.

There are lots of alternatives for the tribes to have some form of commercial fishery ... perhaps heavy plants (timed correctly, of course) on a small stream (perhaps a diversionary channel of the main river) near the mouth of a river (to minimize impact on mainstem fish and keep fish quality to a maximum) ... manage harvest with either MSY or OY on the mainstem river ... and harvest all the excess fish in this 'fishery'.

This seems like a win-win deal for most everyone ... most importantly, the wild stocks.