I thought some would not be on the mailing list.

WDFW NEWS RELEASE
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/

October 20, 2017
Contact: Kelly Cunningham, 360-902-2325

WDFW announces additional meetings on management
of salmon, steelhead fishing guide industry

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has scheduled additional public meetings on management of the state's salmon and steelhead fishing guide industry.

In addition to previously scheduled meetings in Forks and in Lyle, the department has scheduled four more meetings to provide the public with more opportunities to participate.

All meetings are scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. and include the following dates and locations:

Forks: Oct. 25, Rainforest Arts Center, 35 N. Forks Ave., Forks.
Lyle: Nov. 8, Lyle Activities Center, Highway 14 and Third Street, Lyle.
Ridgefield: Nov. 9, WDFW Region 5 office, 5525 S. 11th St., Ridgefield.
Mill Creek: Nov. 13, WDFW Region 4 office,16018 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill Creek.
East Wenatchee: Nov. 20, Douglas County PUD Offices, Main Auditorium, 1151 Valley Mall Pkwy, East Wenatchee.
Clarkston: Nov. 21, Walla Walla Community College in the multi-purpose room, 1470 Bridge St., Clarkston.
During the 2017 legislative session, the Legislature directed WDFW to hold meetings to explore alternative structures for guide licensing, with the objectives of:

Improving the fishing experience and ensuring equitable opportunity for both guided and non-guided river anglers,
Managing fishing pressure to protect wild steelhead and other species; and
Ensuring that recreational fish guiding remains a sustainable economic contributor to rural economies.
The Legislature directed WDFW to hold public meetings on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Klickitat River area. However, the department has scheduled four additional meetings, based on feedback from the public.

At the scheduled meetings, WDFW will discuss current management and take suggestions for potential regulatory changes for the fishing guide industry.

WDFW also is working with a contractor to develop and conduct a survey to capture feedback from those who cannot attend a meeting in person.

The department will provide a summary of its findings to the Legislature by the end of the year.

I responded to my email saying that one of the sites should have been Grays Harbor..... Outa hand in this region!!!!!! IMO, !!!!!

Also requested a Grays Harbor or Olympia meeting. Seems like a no brainer, which should be right up WDFW's alley.

Yup. Since the virtual death of the PS steelhead fisheries, Grays Harbor has gotten a lot of displaced guide traffic (and non-guided sport boats). Frankly, I find the crowding worse here than on the OP, and we don't have as many fish, so it can be pretty tough these days.

I'll send a request for a Grays Harbor discussion as well.

And I thought it was bad in the late 80's, early 90's! talk about orders of magnitude

This was sent to me so I thought i would share.

State of Washington
DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 43200, Olympia, WA 98504-3200 • (360) 902-2200 • TDD (360) 902-2207
Main Office Location: Natural Resources Building, 1111 Washington Street SE, Olympia, WA

October 17, 2017


Washington Licensed Guides:

There has been some recent concern shared with us regarding the disparity between resident and non-resident guide fees as a result of the 2017 legislative session. This letter attempts to provide clarifying information and address the concerns we have heard.

Prior to the 2017 legislative session, there was a court proceeding in the state of California challenging that state's fee structure for commercial license fees. Specifically, the plaintiffs in the law suit argued that charging out of state commercial fishers more than resident commercial fishers was a violation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution. In 2013, the Federal District Court agreed with the challengers and invalidated California's higher non-resident commercial fishing license fees. The state appealed, and in 2015 the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. WDFW proposed aligning resident and non­ resident commercial license fees within a broader bill regarding commercial license fees in order to avoid a similar lawsuit which, if successful, could have required Washington to refund retroactively a portion of nonresident commercial fishing license fees.

Subsequently, the state of California convinced the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision. In December 2017, an en bane panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that differential fees were permissible provided certain criteria were met. The Court applied a formulaic approach to determine the maximum amount of fee differential a state could charge for non-resident licenses.

Utilizing the court-approved approach, WDFW went through a similar internal exercise this winter using data from the 2013-15 biennium. The analysis indicated that Washington could charge $385 more for non-resident commercial licenses (including guide fees) than residents. However, during the legislative session, there was mixed support for setting the non-resident fees to this upper limit. In the end, the difference between resident and non-resident commercial fees was set at $75 for nearly all commercial licenses. Because the price differential had previously been higher than that, nonresident commercial fishers did see a price reduction, and resident commercial fishers saw a price increase, but nonresident commercial fishers are still paying more than resident commercial fishers.

I hope this helps clarify the steps the department took to address this complex issue. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at (360) 902-2325 or at kelly.cunningham@dfw.wa.gov

Sincerely,
/7? /'
7 f
Kelly Cunningham
Deputy Assistant Director, Fish Program

Gotta make sure that people who don't live here can rape the resources like good Americans ... Pathetic, outdated drivel.

That is what I thought..... All we need is to have more guides from Idaho, Oregon and maybe BC, on top of the too many WA State guides...