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.