No more Skagit Steelhead!

[Smalma]

I believe that folks have forgotten or did not experience how big steelhead fishing was in this state. For example, during the mid-1980s WDFW creel surveys found that on the Snohomish system just during the 3-month winter period (December through February) it was estimated that there were 60,000 steelhead angler trips. To put that in context the WDFW estimate of the number of rrecreational salmon angler trips on the coast (MA 1 trough MA 4) were 31,845 in 2020 and 65,496 in 2021.

Those of us who follow the NOF process know all too well the priority the agency places on maximizing the coastal salmon opportunities!

Curt

 

[Banned user]

Wow, you guys are making some wild assumptions, attributing all sorts of evil from the government. Of course, you're wildly off the mark.

The Washington (and Oregon, and Texas, and every other state) budget is a large and complex document, for lack of a better term. Fishers may get butt-hurt by the elimination of remediation measures on the Skagit or any other stream being reduced or eliminated, but fishers, the type that benefit from those measures, are a tiny, TINY portion of the electorate. Would you address the issues of the 5%, or the 95%? It's a simple answer.

Please understand, I feel that the remediation measures are (or were) important, but it's ludicrous to say that because these measures were eliminated, that the officials who did it are somehow evil, want to screw the public - or the fish - over. This is simple demographics. Get 50% of the Washington population invested in steelhead success, and you'll find different budgetary numbers. But in fact, the vast majority of folks give but passing interest to anadromous runs. That's democracy, like it or not. And it's working, just not to your satisfaction.

 

[Pink Nighty]

Wow, you guys are making some wild assumptions, attributing all sorts of evil from the government. Of course, you're wildly off the mark.

The Washington (and Oregon, and Texas, and every other state) budget is a large and complex document, for lack of a better term. Fishers may get butt-hurt by the elimination of remediation measures on the Skagit or any other stream being reduced or eliminated, but fishers, the type that benefit from those measures, are a tiny, TINY portion of the electorate. Would you address the issues of the 5%, or the 95%? It's a simple answer.

Please understand, I feel that the remediation measures are (or were) important, but it's ludicrous to say that because these measures were eliminated, that the officials who did it are somehow evil, want to screw the public - or the fish - over. This is simple demographics. Get 50% of the Washington population invested in steelhead success, and you'll find different budgetary numbers. But in fact, the vast majority of folks give but passing interest to anadromous runs. That's democracy, like it or not. And it's working, just not to your satisfaction.

Ummm, congratulations on your zen with regards to being screwed out of a hard earned opportunity? The fact is that holding this fishery wouldnt negatively impact even .001% of those 95% who dont care, and costs less than one one thousandth of one percent of Washingtons budget to hold.

I believe the lamentation you hear in this thread reflects the fact that this fishery was already lost to legislative bullshit, and was clawed back through working that glorious democratic system, and is now being dropped because that system worked itself into an untenable budget situation, while simultaneously taking in record tax receipts.

Criticizing shitty political decisions, even using hyperbolic terms sometimes, is not a misunderstanding of democracy.

 

[Banned user]

Ummm, congratulations on your zen with regards to being screwed out of a hard earned opportunity? The fact is that holding this fishery wouldnt negatively impact even .001% of those 95% who dont care, and costs less than one one thousandth of one percent of Washingtons budget to hold.

I believe the lamentation you hear in this thread reflects the fact that this fishery was already lost to legislative bullshit, and was clawed back through working that glorious democratic system, and is now being dropped because that system worked itself into an untenable budget situation, while simultaneously taking in record tax receipts.

Criticizing shitty political decisions, even using hyperbolic terms sometimes, is not a misunderstanding of democracy.

Wow, I don't even understand what that all means. .001% of the budget is still money that VOTERS (via their elected officials and government employees hired by those officials) have said they want to go elsewhere. It's a shame, yes, but you vastly misread the public opinion if you think that you're going to change folks' minds. In the current environment, touchy-feely programs are going to be hammered, locally and nationally. This is one of them. I hate to be a witness to the extirpation of a species, but without public support, officials view that as public indifference. Probably with cause. Ask a soy-milk latte sipping Seattle resident what he or she thinks, and you'll find more are looking forward to the next Megan Thee Stallion song than for a remediation effort for steelhead anywhere.