Folks -
Please note that nowhere my previous post did I discuss the merits of the WT's law suit(s).
My issues are with how information is or is not presented to the public.

It is my opinion based after many years of working with public, indsutrial and governmental groups for the protection of the wild salmonid resources of the State of Washington that such suits nearly irrelevant to the recovery of those resources we all care about. At best they can serve as a catalyst for action. State and Federal policies and laws are continously at risk from special interest groups - it is the American way! The continuation of, the development of, and enforcement of policies and laws that most of us would consider favorable to fish is going require the support and vigilance of a broad spectrum of vocal users -THAT CAN BE US! It will not be a narrowly focus organization though they should be natural allies.

Again it is my opinion that success of such a coalition is likely to be dependent on two factors: 1) Information - knowledge is power, especially in swaying that vast majority of fence sitters and 2) the ability to focus on the key larger issues. My earlier post attempted to address the first, BSing the public will return to bite us in the rear. Some of the discussion of this thread illustrates the need of the second.

Continually this business of banning gill nets keeps coming up. Now I'm not of fan of gill nets and am concern about by-catch and the potential of selective pressures that gill nets can put on a population. However I find that they are very minor player in the depressed status of salmonid populations that we care about. Is the status of upper Columbia/Snake chinook and steelhead largely the result of gill netting or water withdrawal. power generation, and habitat degradation? Is the status of Oregon Coastal coho the result of gil netting or habitat degradation, hatchery/wild inteactions, and general over-harvest? Is the status of Puget Sound chinook the result of gill netting or the loss of estuaries, stream channel simplication, other freshwater impacts, over-harvest, and hatchery/wild interactions? Is the status of bull trout throughout the west the result of gill nets or habitat fragmentation, non-native species interactions and over fishing?

I submit that the answer in each is the latter not gill netting. Obivously gill nets are part of the harvest equation but only part. The battle over gill nets in reality is by enlarge about catch allocation, if the nets didn't catch their fish someone would be stepping in to catch the fish. If you wish to fit for a larger piece of the allocation pie knock yourself out - just don't so in the name of resource protection. If you wish to work for healthy wild stocks then lets address those larger issues. I have attempted to provide some of my limited knowledge and experience to the readers of this forum for that cause - Have I been wasting my time?

Tight lines
Smalma