Originally Posted By: OLD FB
Originally Posted By: RowVsWade
Bob, People are pisssed and rightfully so. My hat's off to those with the time and flexibility of schedule to attend the meetings. The problem isn't that enough folks don't attend the meetings or voice their opinions, it's that the state doesn't GAF about us or our opinions. I've written, called and spoken with the mucky mucks with the same dismissive attitude and canned response. If the state wasn't required to at least allow people time for open comment they wouldn't waste their time pretending to GAF what we think. We elect folks to represent us and look out for our interests so that WE don't have to do their jobs for them. The system is broken, that much is very obvious, our elected officials prefer to pander to the tribes while their constituents take it up the ass AGAIN!

Thanks to all that are actively involved but I have to ask: If public input is so important what has the state done that indicates they listened to that input? This year and last year the state turned its back on us. Is that what the public input represented? Pandering to tribes and screwing over the other 99.5%?

The money politicians receive from the tribes speaks far louder than anything a politicians constituency asks. Politicians don't care about their record because the public has a short memory, they only care about money $$$$.




Truer words were never written! The frustration is palpable in these posts! Hear that? It's our collective voices crying out in the wilderness... frown


It may just be an exception, but the folks in Greys Harbor stepped up, many people attended meetings, many more commented on line or by snail mail, and 4 days in river 3 days out of river (
Chehalis River) for non- tribal gill netters. That means that they (non-tribal) gill netters won't have nets in the river 7 days out of the week. Some would say that that's not enough restrictions, but as my lovely wife says, "you have to eat that elephant one bite at a time.
We advocated for lifting the restrictions at lowland lakes to remove limit catches to only two fish over 14 inches. With most fish pushing 14 inches as a rule on certain lakes it was not a good rule. It was changed due to comments by my wife and I as well as others.
Frustration with the way the state manages our resource is understandable, attacking other fisherpersons that are more involved with changing the system then you (and I DO mean you, Piper!) is Bullsh#t, he can take his "frustration" and shove it where it will do the most good, down his own throat! We spend our valuable spare time advocating for us all and we get this? Quotes about "crying out in the wilderness"? Show up in numbers and voice your opinions. It does work some of the time. Explore some of the other great fishing our state has to offer as a way to deal with salmon frustration.
Continue to pressure our "elected" officials with the same zeal you apply to salmon fishing. Push for campaign reform so the same s.o.b.'s have term limits and push for public funding of elections so money won't control who gets in. Lofty goals for sure, but if we don't fix it as voters it never will be fixed. Bob R