Enough time has passed since our group met with senior leadership @ WDFW to reflect with some accuracy as to what transpired...and what has failed to occur afterward. Our focus was simple: bring about the public transparency desperately needed to make the upcoming 2018 NOF Co-Management season-setting sessions a functional, fair and cooperative process.
As the meeting began, we were informed that WDFW is sympathetic with our cause, but is powerless to deal with the Tribes on an equal basis due to Tribal Sovereignty and Federal authority. It should be mentioned here that several Federal Agencies have, nevertheless, mandated that the season-setting negotiations be "agreed upon" collectively by the State and various Tribes. There's your trouble...
I'm still reeling over what transpired next. Across the table were five WDFW administrators/managers with a combined yearly salary of somewhere close to $570,200.00--this can be documented at fiscal.wa.gov/Salariesaspx. That number would suggest some degree of professional prowess and competency, yet we were abruptly and desperately asked, "what would you do to remedy this? We really need to know!"
It made little difference what our perspective amounted to. Had we performed a miracle and parted the seas before them, they would have remained rigid and stubbornly committed to staying the course, catering to the Tribes, appeasing them along the way, and just hoping that courtesy, trust and minimizing their posture would prevail. That policy has failed miserably in the previous decades. The Wynoochee mitagation, closure of the Skokomish , the previous Fall's excess harvest at the Federal Locks, and the Point No Point ramp fiasco all serve to emphasize the failure of that strategy.
We left with some hope that a promised letter to NWIFC requesting some degree of public presence at NOF would be a move forward...but to this date, we can't even get confirmation that the letter was sent, received by the Tribes, or both.
They must justify their lofty salaries and go directly to the root of the problem. The Director has gone on record as saying," There's got to be a better way to do this..." Your getting paid to do just that--find a better way. Enlist the Federal delegation in DC to join ranks. Hold the Federal Agencies involved accountable for the burden of a dysfunctional process that sets WDFW up for failure. Above all else, quit sitting on your hands, commit to taking the public's best interests to heart, and earn your paychecks. One last directive: fix this mess because it's the right thing to do.

Well said.... well said.

It would be very interesting to know what these guys are drawing as salaries compared to what we, the average fishermen is taking home! Remember the proposed license fee increase last year? And the plea for more money from the general fund this year?

GreatBender, let us see the numbers these guys are taking home for the great job they've been doing.

Speaking of them earning their pay.

I sent a follow up email to Mr. Ron Warren, asking for a status on "the letter". The letter that they agreed to let us see a draft of BEFORE it was sent, BUT DIDN'T!

The letter that they agreed would prioritize a live video feed as a means of transparency. BUT IT DIDN'T!

The letter that they say is THE ONLY THING THEY CAN DO. And instead of actually doing anything, they want to tell the sportsmen we are part of the problem and we need be more cooperative and polite! Ya? How's that been working out?

Ron Warren has not even given us the courtesy of a reply!

Here is a copy of the email I sent:

Washington Citizen <opennof@gmail.com>

TO: Ron.Warren,
cc: James Unsworth, Commission Chair, WDFW publicaffairs

Ron,

Just a quick request for the status of the letter that was signed on Nov 15th to Lorraine Loomis.

Has the letter been sent, or was that the promised draft, which you're awaiting our edits?

If that was the finished letter, I must say I'm disappointed that we were not given the opportunity to look over a draft, which we all agreed to in our meeting.

If that was the final letter and it indeed was sent, have you received any reply or confirmation of receipt?

What is the Departments planned course of action as to a time period to wait before any follow up occurs from your end?

Thank you for addressing my concerns,

Citizen Sportsmen
Open WDFW/Tribal North of Falcon

Secrecy, once accepted, becomes an addiction.
Edward Teller

Baywolf, as per your request, here are the names/numbers. Once again, this info is available to the public at the State's website, is in compliance with principles of public disclosure, and is indexed as 2016 annual salary totals

Director Jim Unsworth $152,000.00
Ron Warren $96,300.00
Michael Grossman $119,300.00
Bill Frymire $119.400.00
Vincent Adicks $83,200.00 (combined salary?)

WDFW has an Assistant Attorney General just like every other agency. If there is a legal requirement that the process be transparent (or even only "agreed to"), that person is the one being paid (probably almost as much as Unsworth) to answer the question of what can be done. I'm fairly certain the lack of motivation to put said person to work on the matter is due to substantial political pressure NOT to do so.

Maybe time to show up at the forthcoming Commission meeting and see how much "testimony" you can squeeze into three minutes per person: http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2017/12/agenda_dec0717.html.

If nothing else you get to vent your frustrations on the record which should include asking the same questions posted above.

Larry, you are exactly and perfectly correct!!

However, it does little good for the same four guys to show up and testify over and over. The Commission already knows we are going to be there and what we are going to say.

WHAT WE NEED IS FOR A WHOLE BUNCH OF GUYS TO SHOW UP!

Yes, it's not easy. They make it that way! Guys have to take off work, spend gas money to travel and then sit around and wait to get their three minutes. Then there is the hassle of trying to think of something to say...indeed, it is a lot of work.

BUT, IF GUYS REALLY FEEL STRONGLY THAT WDFW IS NO LONGER BEING AN ADVOCATE FOR THEIR STAKEHOLDERS, THEN IT'S TIME TO STAND UP AND BE COUNTED!

THE COMMISSION AND THE DEPARTMENT WOULD LIKE NOTHING MORE FOR THE SAME FOUR GUYS TO SHOW UP AND NO ONE ELSE...

I am going and live near the intersection of I-5 and SR-512. There is a McDonalds there. I have room for 5 in my truck. I will give anyone a ride who needs it.

Lets see by your posts here, who is willing to stand up and be counted. Who will go?

GB,

I'd be interested in what solutions you and your cohort came up with?

I mean, beside "Do your jobs", that is...

NOBODY needs to take time off work to testify before the Commission. But you might have to sacrifice your early morning bite on a Saturday.

Remember there is Open Public Input scheduled at the beginning AND at the end of each full day that the commission meets.

Come on Saturday morning with your posse. There; no need to take up a full three minutes of testimony. Just let each guy in your group take a 30 second turn at the mike with this simple message ....

"Enough is enough... we will NOT be denied transparency in a public process. If the tribes insist they don't want an allegedly "disruptive" public in physical attendance at these co-manager meetings, the simple solution is to video-record them and promptly post the video transcripts to the NOF page."

DONE

On Friday they have open public input sessions scheduled for 9:45 A.M. and 5:05 P.M. followed on Saturday with only an 8:30 session. If they can only find time for one opportunity for public input on Saturday it should be at the end of their session. But if their goal is for hearing from the public then two sessions on Saturday would ensure an opportunity for those working folks from out of town to attend and engage the Commission.

One of Murphy's Laws is "An ounce of image is worth a pound of performance".

They are offering THREE different times when the public can comment. The could have done with just one Friday morning but by offering three, at widely different times, they are doing so much more and showing that the public's input is desired and valuable.

Or not. Your choice.

There is a slot for public comment at 9:30 a.m. for comments on changes to freshwater rules, I encourage anyone attending the early session to stay for this session, please advocate AGAINST the rule change that would allow folks to continue to fish for trout while using bait after 5 fish are caught whether released or kept, who needs jerks gut hooking fish all day long? The argument that they use is they want people who want to fish all day to be able to, I suggest lures! They also cite the difficulty of enforcement, I say screw that! We have some seriously lazy enforcement officers if they can't watch people and tell what they are doing. I see it all the time and can't do anything but try and educate them. No use calling wdfw, they need to observe it themselves to do anything about it. Changing this rule will enable those who care not about our resources. Having the rule in place keeps some from doing it, those who poach will do it whether or not there is a rule prohibiting that. Bob R

A bunch of guys testifying next Saturday morning as a unified group on a NON-agenda item will definitely get their attention. Make your point crystal clear. Just remember to keep it polite and respectful.

Bob R,

I think the deadline for comments on proposed fishing regulation changes was yesterday, November 30. Lots of folks commented in opposition to the proposed regulation you mentioned regarding CNR trout fishing with bait.

Regarding Commission meeting testimony, it absolutely can pay off. It works best if you:

1. prepare ahead of time (for me it's slightly less than one full typewritten page in 3 minutes);
2. state the problem and the solution you want;
3. if you can link the pathway from the problem through the solution, that helps;
4. don't demand an action that is beyond the Commission's scope and legal authority;
5. be polite.

Sg

Salmo, these are perfect points. It does take a little preparation but the Commissioners DO listen to the people.

Regarding more Transparency in our fisheries, or Public oversight in the Tribal/WDFW meetings is something the Commission Chair Bradly Smith has said is VITAL and IMPORTANT to the management.

The impasse is the Department says that the Tribes cannot be forced to the table. The department cannot force them to accept a live video feed in the meetings because of the Sovereignty question. The real reason is permits! Director Unsworth stated if they try and force the issue, the tribes may just opt out of the negotiations. In other words, not participate! Which means, no piggy back on their permits and another train wreck for the Department. SO, simply, they choose to weather the storm of what they view as a "few constituents" who want open meetings as opposed to a MASS Rebellion and blood letting on the Department if they screw up the fishing season. You see, back in Coho gate, Unsworth fought the tribes over the coho closure. Remember how ugly that got? Well, he feels the sport fishing community abandoned him in the middle of that fight and he got flamed. So now, he's gun shy. Too afraid to challenge the Tribes lest they pull our permit chances out of the meetings.

The utterly horrifying thing is. Although they are negotiating a LONG TERM permitting plan, so we don't have to go through a North of Falcon every year. The Department told us that THOSE NEGOTIATIONS WILL ALSO BE CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC! Imagine, having to live with a ten year plan that you had NO INPUT ON!!!

Having a live video feed in these negotiations would not hurt the fisheries. It may embarrass certain parties, and it certainly would stop some of the bad behavior reported to occur in these meetings. And there is a simple solution to having the live video feed included.

All the Commission has to do is add it into the North of Falcon policy before they vote to approve it! It then becomes law under the Open Public Meetings Act! Of course, the tribes either collectively or separately can choose to attend or not, since they are not subject to the law. But what a public relations nightmare if they choose not to negotiate in good faith, because they don't want things in the open!

Public comment Date and time...

WDFW Commission meeting 12/8 and 12/9

Public Input, at the following times:

12/8(Friday)......9:45 a.m. and 5:05 p.m.

12/9(Saturday).....8:30 a.m.

They do time these.....3 minutes

Don't forget to sign up if you want to speak !!!!!!![size:17pt]

Hope some of the younger PP members show up and voice their concerns..

NEWS FLASH

After repeated attempts to have our questions answered regarding the letter, Director Unsworth replied.

Here is how he answered:

"You have received a copy of the letter as it was sent to Lorraine Loomis. I received a verbal confirmation of receipt from Ms. Loomis at a recent Pacific Salmon Commission meeting. I do not know if we will receive a written response. We will include public involvement as a discussion topic at North of Falcon planning meetings in December and January.

Jim"

Look, we have a Director of WDFW who, by all indications, chooses the path of least resistance over doing the right thing. His continued in-action has cost the sport fishing community dearly. In a way, I feel sorry for him. He desperately needs to hang around long enough to get vested for his retirement. After all, it would be difficult to get a job anywhere else with his track record here.

So, I guess we have a few choices. Continue to allow our fisheries to be given away, piece by piece, or draw a line in the sand and say NO MORE. Continue to be pushed aside and disregarded or become a unified force. Allow others to decide what is best for us, or demand a fair seat at the table!

It's pretty evident that the Director has chosen his course of action, to cooperate and wait...for retirement, no matter how much damage is done.

It will be interesting to see what the constitution of the sportsmen is.

The bottom line is this: Why are we having to fight for transparency in the management of the fisheries? How can having everything out in the open, for ALL to see and for ALL to work on solutions be harmful? HOW CAN ONE GROUP DICTATE TO THE OTHER WHO WILL BE ALLOWED TO ATTEND MEETINGS WHEN THEY ARE DIVIDING UP FISH THAT ARE SUPPOSED TO BELONG TO EVERYBODY! WHAT ARE THEY SO AFRAID OF US FINDING OUT?

WDFW depends on the fact that people want to go fishing. They have huge investments in boats and trucks and tackle. They know that not enough folks are interested in the process so long as they get "something"

The State and Tribes have calculated that so long as there is, in order of priority, Ocean, Straits, Blackmouth opportunity for salmon that the grumbling will be low enough to be dealt with. Look how much fishing has been lost in PS (marine and fresh) plus steelhead. How much gamefish opportunity has been lost/ Licenses still sell.

Actually, at 9:30 a.m. they have public input scheduled for freshwater rule changes which is what the bait fishing for trout is listed under freshwater rule changes. I believe the deadline was for written input. And what about the Atlantic Salmon farming issue? They are discussing this at 8:50.Get this Polluting crap out of out waters! At 8:30 you can blast them about this as well as lack of transparency in meetings with tribes. Being able to comment on this BEFORE they discuss it will help inform them about public opinion. Hope to see as many of you that spoke so strongly about this on line . Bob R

Here is the link to the upcoming 8/9 December Commission meeting agenda:

http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2017/12/agenda_dec0717.html.


"Public Input, at the following times:

12/8(Friday)......9:45 a.m. and 5:05 p.m.

12/9(Saturday).....8:30 a.m.

They do time these.....3 minutes

Don't forget to sign up if you want to speak !!!!!!!"


(Quote is cut and paste - thanks Drifter)