Legal Petition Filed with the Commission

On Dec 21st, the Twin Harbors FISH & WILDLIFE Advocacy with us (Washington Citizen Sportsmen) came together and filed a legal petition requesting the Commission provide stricter instructions to the Dept. by converting the NOF Policy from an advisory policy to a rule. By state law, the Commission has 60 days to either move forward or provide written reasons for not doing so.

We believe this action might provide the catalyst needed to get the Commission to move off of their position of voicing support for greater transparency while doing very little toward that end.

If we can motivate the Commission to move forward on this, it will allow for public input, wherein we can address the open meetings.

Twin Harbors FISH & WILDLIFE Advocacy Web Site

Legal Petition

Please show your support for this action by contacting our DFW Commission. Commission@DFW.WA.GOV

If nothing else it forces a public response on a fixed time line.

Absolutely.

Between the ongoing lip service but lack of action vis a vis NOF transparency and the Department leaving the Commission totally out of the loop regarding negotiation and approval of the Puget Sound Chinook Harvest Management Plan I have to wonder if there is a concerted effort to render the Commission toothless and effectively obsolete.

Yes, I know, I am starting to sound like the tin hat crowd.......

The Governor would love to have no Commission and be able to directly appoint the Director.

Why do you think that the Givernor's Office of Salmon Recovery was created? To compete with WDFW and keep it in line.

Absolutely! We all need to be very vigilant in the coming year. There have already been bills introduced to eliminate or reduce the Commission to an advisory status. If they do that, we can all sell our boats and donate our gear to the “Recreational Fishing Museum” because we will have NO VOICE AT ALL! The Commission is vital to the citizens of this State and you can best believe there are parties that want them gone, not the least of which is the Department.

That there is lobbying to further reduce the effectiveness of the commission tells you everything you need to know about why we need to protect it and STRENGTHEN its position. Good stuff here. Potentially eliminates a lot of excuses for the sometimes convenient lack of transparency.