Posted by: cowlitzfisherman
It's all about money!! - 10/26/02 12:56 PM
It's all about money and nothing else. I don't know how many times you people need to get bonked on your heads before you see the light!
In this case, most fishermen are still sitting in the dark. I keep hearing that WDFW is in dyer needs of new funding… so what the heck is new? Have you ever asked yourself why? Every time you get an increase in your tags or license fees there always seems to be that group of bureaucrats out there who applaud our agency and tell them and us how glad they are to do it and that it's the best darn deal around. In my opinion, that's all a bunch of BS!
Now I will tell you why I feel that way. Most of what I am going to talk about is related to the area that I know best, but you can bet your last dollar (and you will) that it applies through-out our entire state goverment.
First, who and what in the devil do you think are causing the WDFW funds to be depleted? Let's take the time and just review just a few examples of who the "who's" really are. How much money do you think is spent each year on the Columbia River commercial fishery by WDFW? Before you bloody hearts jump up give them more money to burn, wouldn't it be finically prudent to first see a financial break down of how much and what too that money was spent on? Maybe, just maybe, the commercials are getting ten times more fish for there dollars then we are without paying more for them.
Did any of you ever stop and ask yourself what kind of new fee increases were proposed for the "commercial harvesters" this year, If any? If so, were they proportionally raised to what they actually harvest? Are not 99% of the fish that they harvest hatchery fish? So how much should the other tens of thousands of sport fisher pay, when proportionally more fish are being alloted to the "handful" of commercial gill netters? Da…da…are we starting to think yet? We are told that the Tribes are "co-managers" right?
Well how much of your license fees do you think is used from the "general fun" to assist the tribes in their co-management effort? Have you ever seen any finical report that shows you how much of WDFW funds are spent each year on that? Do we just keep dumping our license money into that bureaucratic hole which we know as the "general fund" as usual with no accountability of where and what our license money is being spent on?
Again, let's just take a quick look at what WDFW does with your license funds on the Cowlitz. The answer, almost nothing! Even those the Cowlitz is probably the "most" heavily fished river in all of Washington, WDFW spend almost "0" to enhance the sport fishing opportunity on it. Yes, Tacoma Power has their dams located about 48 miles up river, but who is doing a damn thing in the lower 48 miles of the Cowlitz River to enhance fishing or natural production?
Tacoma Power is totally responsible for mitigation above their projects, but isn't WDFW responsible for the 48 miles of state owned and controlled river below? Have you ever seen a financial report of how much WDFW funds are spent each year on this river, or for that matter, any river??
These are just a few small examples of how the WDFW funds are being blonder away each and every year. If you, or anyone else, thinks that I am wrong, then show me where our money has gone (finical report, not just where you "think" it was spent).
Finally, let's not use this issue to become a tribe bashing issue or debate. All this thread was intended to do was to make you think before spending more money on programs or projects that are self approved or we may know nothing about. I say give them the money only if and when they can show us exactly where and how it will be spent in the future.
I for one, am getting pretty darn tired of people who like to look at this funding issue and attempt to justifying their spending of more funds on nothing by saying; there's 2 ways you can look at it, "is the glass half full or is the glass half empty" In this case, this glass is half empty and leaking faster each day!!
This is the only way that any business can survive…and yes, WDFW is defiantly a business!!
Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook
In this case, most fishermen are still sitting in the dark. I keep hearing that WDFW is in dyer needs of new funding… so what the heck is new? Have you ever asked yourself why? Every time you get an increase in your tags or license fees there always seems to be that group of bureaucrats out there who applaud our agency and tell them and us how glad they are to do it and that it's the best darn deal around. In my opinion, that's all a bunch of BS!
Now I will tell you why I feel that way. Most of what I am going to talk about is related to the area that I know best, but you can bet your last dollar (and you will) that it applies through-out our entire state goverment.
First, who and what in the devil do you think are causing the WDFW funds to be depleted? Let's take the time and just review just a few examples of who the "who's" really are. How much money do you think is spent each year on the Columbia River commercial fishery by WDFW? Before you bloody hearts jump up give them more money to burn, wouldn't it be finically prudent to first see a financial break down of how much and what too that money was spent on? Maybe, just maybe, the commercials are getting ten times more fish for there dollars then we are without paying more for them.
Did any of you ever stop and ask yourself what kind of new fee increases were proposed for the "commercial harvesters" this year, If any? If so, were they proportionally raised to what they actually harvest? Are not 99% of the fish that they harvest hatchery fish? So how much should the other tens of thousands of sport fisher pay, when proportionally more fish are being alloted to the "handful" of commercial gill netters? Da…da…are we starting to think yet? We are told that the Tribes are "co-managers" right?
Well how much of your license fees do you think is used from the "general fun" to assist the tribes in their co-management effort? Have you ever seen any finical report that shows you how much of WDFW funds are spent each year on that? Do we just keep dumping our license money into that bureaucratic hole which we know as the "general fund" as usual with no accountability of where and what our license money is being spent on?
Again, let's just take a quick look at what WDFW does with your license funds on the Cowlitz. The answer, almost nothing! Even those the Cowlitz is probably the "most" heavily fished river in all of Washington, WDFW spend almost "0" to enhance the sport fishing opportunity on it. Yes, Tacoma Power has their dams located about 48 miles up river, but who is doing a damn thing in the lower 48 miles of the Cowlitz River to enhance fishing or natural production?
Tacoma Power is totally responsible for mitigation above their projects, but isn't WDFW responsible for the 48 miles of state owned and controlled river below? Have you ever seen a financial report of how much WDFW funds are spent each year on this river, or for that matter, any river??
These are just a few small examples of how the WDFW funds are being blonder away each and every year. If you, or anyone else, thinks that I am wrong, then show me where our money has gone (finical report, not just where you "think" it was spent).
Finally, let's not use this issue to become a tribe bashing issue or debate. All this thread was intended to do was to make you think before spending more money on programs or projects that are self approved or we may know nothing about. I say give them the money only if and when they can show us exactly where and how it will be spent in the future.
I for one, am getting pretty darn tired of people who like to look at this funding issue and attempt to justifying their spending of more funds on nothing by saying; there's 2 ways you can look at it, "is the glass half full or is the glass half empty" In this case, this glass is half empty and leaking faster each day!!
This is the only way that any business can survive…and yes, WDFW is defiantly a business!!
Cowlitzfisherman
Is the taste of the bait worth the sting of the hook