I believe that the history of NOF goes way back before the PST, which was mid-late 80s. There have been these management meetings going on before that because WA law applies only out to 3 miles. Beyond that it is the Feds so there needed to be a process that dealt with fisheries outside of 3 miles.

As I recall when I played in that sandbox that the public could sit in on the meetings if they were not in executive session. The processes that I was most involved in (Fraser) had industry representatives in decision-making positions and they were expected to communicate back to their constituents. Further, the state folks were expected to answer questions from the public.