It does seem like the Tribes are having an undue amount of influence over the WDFW co-managers, but I think something less nefarious (but equally detrimental to sport opportunity) is happening.
It's understood that the Tribes see a fish as a fish, no matter how many fins it has, so they don't plan their fisheries around ensuring wild escapement. Basically, I imagine they do it the same way they always have: they go fishing for whatever they think they can catch. I don't think they are telling WDFW what to do; rather, they're telling WDFW what THEY plan to do, and letting WDFW do what they want with the sport fishery in light of that. In most cases, when runs are underperforming, WDFW's practice has been to find out what the Tribes are doing, do some math, to see if what the Tribes are doing is likely to save enough WILD fish so we can have a sport fishery, then make a decision. Their usual M.O. when the Tribal fishery doesn't leave enough wild fish on the table, rather than crafting whatever other fisheries might be sustainable, is to simply shut us down. I do think this is a lazy way to handle things, but it's low-risk and low-effort.
If they held the same views WDFW does on wild fish management, the Tribes probably wouldn't be fishing now either. Their indifference to the distinction between wild and hatchery fish enables them to come up with enough fish to justify a fishery, even in slow years, time and time again. Perhaps it's by design, but I kind of doubt it... or maybe I just don't want to believe it is....
Anyway, I think it's absolutely fair to say the current paradigm is not very close to what could be called "co-management." Whether it's intentional or not, one manager is eating the whole pie right now.
It's understood that the Tribes see a fish as a fish, no matter how many fins it has, so they don't plan their fisheries around ensuring wild escapement. Basically, I imagine they do it the same way they always have: they go fishing for whatever they think they can catch. I don't think they are telling WDFW what to do; rather, they're telling WDFW what THEY plan to do, and letting WDFW do what they want with the sport fishery in light of that. In most cases, when runs are underperforming, WDFW's practice has been to find out what the Tribes are doing, do some math, to see if what the Tribes are doing is likely to save enough WILD fish so we can have a sport fishery, then make a decision. Their usual M.O. when the Tribal fishery doesn't leave enough wild fish on the table, rather than crafting whatever other fisheries might be sustainable, is to simply shut us down. I do think this is a lazy way to handle things, but it's low-risk and low-effort.
If they held the same views WDFW does on wild fish management, the Tribes probably wouldn't be fishing now either. Their indifference to the distinction between wild and hatchery fish enables them to come up with enough fish to justify a fishery, even in slow years, time and time again. Perhaps it's by design, but I kind of doubt it... or maybe I just don't want to believe it is....
Anyway, I think it's absolutely fair to say the current paradigm is not very close to what could be called "co-management." Whether it's intentional or not, one manager is eating the whole pie right now.
