I appreciate your thoughtful response Charles. I know that the dept needs to meet # goals for Chinook - that and political factors (comanagers, etc) are the drivers for this and other closures. What bothers me is that other stakeholders are consulted (commercials, tribes) while it seems the existing standard is to just crap on sports fishers and then let the Commissioners be the punching bag for those angry enough to attend their meetings. Our 'rights' to fish for sport on sustainable populations of fish in our rivers is given no apparent value.
I agree with everything that you have written and more. The current paradigm, which WDFW has some responsibility for, dictates that our (trout/ steelhead anglers) needs are last. There is another thread on the same subject here where Smalma speaks to the issues as well. I think that I pretty much agree with that post (its the last one).
The thing is that not all sportsmen are created politically equal. Flyfishermen are not the elite of the WA fishing world. We come in far below most other user groups.
Consider the amount of concessions given to the treaty tribes in return for any saltwater salmon season in PS. That is the reason that there is this closure and a Nooksack closure and a Stilly closure. The tribes would prefer you not fish. They would prefer that no one fish but them. I understand why. Hell, the State of WA kept them from fishing as long as possible too. Now due to the way permits are gained for more influental fishing groups the tribes have hte power to stop it. They may not even need to, as these fisheries probably require monitoring that he state is not going to try and fund for a handful of flyfishermen.
In choosing to piggy back on the tribal permit (which is a bogus permit IMO) for chinook impacts in the sound, the state has essentially ceded any other oportunity that the tribes seek to control. If there is to be change, then the state needs to "go it alone" when getting that permit. I think that politics presently tends to dictate that his is not done. It is now a lot easier for the Feds and for the executive for WDFW to use the tribal permitting process. It's a rubber stamp that is provided only to he other co-manager. In order to access it, we pay. Guess what? WE don't matter as much as the guys with the big boats.
Tangental political thought: This is the point where having one political party be so much stronger than the other really leads to a lack of representation. I really wish that the minority party would forego the Don Quixote act and fight some battles that show themselves to be the adults in the room. (end political discussion)
To put a finer point on it, look to the Skagit. There, it took the state to attempt to gain the permit through clearly legal channels. The state did albeit after considerable prodding from a bunch of old white guys in rubber pants. Throughout the process of getting the state to represent non-salmon anglers it became clear that tribal buy in was required. This buy in was directly tied to salmon since the tribe could also use impacts in their spring king and that all importand sockeye fishery. Once tribal buy in was achieved, the politics could not and would not get in the way of what should have been normal permitting. WFC et al. got to limit the fishery abve the Dalles, but overall did not have too much to sue on because the permit was through the feds and factually it met the requirements. If the Upper Skagit chose to oppose the permit/ season does anyone think that it would have opened? In fact, I doubt it gets submitted for federal review if the state did not see the tribes as being for it as well.
To change the power structure, the state would need to get their own permit to conduct fisheries for salmon in the puget sound. To do so may cause the tribes to object. What's the chance that any permit of plan get approved by the feds (NOAA/ NMFS) without tribal buy in? I would not even bet my dog on approval and that dog is below average. Shoot, I can't even put him in a boat.
So, until someone finds a way to change that permitting paradigm, nothing changes. People can hate on WDFW. They probably deserve a lot of it. But complaining is just pissing in the wind. I'm 49 years old. My prostate is not the super soaker type that is required to piss in the wind. I'd rather find a way to piss with the wind at my back.
