OK, just got back from some fishing, didn't catch any, native or hatchery so I guess I haven't offended anyone here. Let me see if I can respond to a variety of posts here even though I believe Grandpa's post was the one that stood out for me. But then, Grandpa does that to me.

In looking at the declining resource of anadromous fish there is no magic bullet I believe. There are the 4 H's however.

Hydro - This one is pretty obvious on the Columbia, Snake, Skagit, Cowlitz and even some smaller rivers like the Green, Pilchuck, Skookumchuck, etc. There certainly does not seem to be the political will to tackle this issue head on and quite frankly I'm not totally convinced that the price of removal is justified. But, there is no question that Dams have had a terrible impact on the resource.

Hatcheries - Mainly in place for two reasons - Mitigation for loss of spawning habitat due to Hydro/other factors and mitigation for over harvest. This is an area that I believe we can find some common ground on, there are hatchery programs (Long Live the Kings come to mind) that do not carry the negative impact on wild fish that other hatcheries do. I think we can work on this one.

Habitat - In my mind, the biggest obstacle to recovery. We have removed habitat through dams, we have spoiled habitat through development. With this issue we run right smack dab into the face of private property rights. This is the one that will require the most education and probably be the most expensive if we can solve it.

Which brings us to the 4th H - Harvest. As Richard Nixon used to say, "Let me perfectly clear about this". If I knew then what I know now, I would have had the foil ready. I believe that the tribal harvest of steelhead serves virtually no useful purpose to the tribes, and certainly has a terrible and negative impact on the resource. I believe that sports harvest of wild steelhead serves virtually no useful purpose to the sportfishing community and certainly has a terrible and negative impact on the resource. For the next two years, if we as individuals and as a community obey the regulation, we have 1/2 of the equation in hand. Now is time to go after the other 1/2. Foregone opportunity?? As GW says, Bring it on - I would love to see the courts rule on this so that it won't continue as the bogeyman that we make it out to be. If the courts rule that foregone opportunity is a legitimate concept, so be it - we have to deal with it. If the courts throw out the idea, then we can go forward without the threat. My comments about tribal fishing have always been offered from the viewpoint that if we point fingers only at the tribes without acknowledging our portion of the responsibility, we have no credibility. That's why it disturbs me so when I see Jacob write that the sportfishing community is not the problem. See above, the sportsfishing community is not the problem but we are part of the problem. As long as we don't acknowledge that, we bring nothing to the negotiation table except hypocrisy and we will never get anything done. As long as folks don't punch their cards properly, any contention that the tribal fishery reports are bogus boomerang back on us. It's so easy to blame everyone else - its really about personal responsibility isn't it?

I believe that we need to find a way of mitigating the impact of the tribal fisheries on the wild fish. Salmo had an idea a while back of harvesting the fish from holding ponds at the dams - that kind of creativity is refreshing. Personally, I would love to see fish wheels/traps come back into use for the tribal harvest as the impact on the wild fish is much less. Can we buy the fishing rights from the tribes? This is America - seemingly everything is for sale so it might be possible. What I know will not work is to try and rewrite the Court decisions that have affirmed Boldt. That really is a non starter. I know that blaming the tribes without accepting our responsibility and working on the other impacts is also a non starter. However, creative, passionate minds came up with many brilliant human achievements - I believe we can do this too. With this decision, I think we can come to the table with credibility and negotiate with our heads high.