Please bear with me this is a little lengthy.

I recently (early Jan.) made a discovery of somehting that I am embarassed to say , I wasn't even aware existed. I was scanning through old info on the WDFW website and saw that they had a call for nominations to a "Sports Fishing Advisory Board". The news release was dated 11/28 (the day before Thanksgiving) and nomination were due by 12/7. This only allowed 5 working days to respond . The contact person was Pat Patillo(WDFW).

Being curious and somewhat suspicious, I wrote an e-mail asking why so little time was given for response and I also requested a list of the board members. The response that I got back was "...we needed to get the new members before the end of the year and we had some problems with the initial notice to the public being late." When I reviewed the list of members I received, I noticed some of the names right away as having been opponents of I-696.

I sat in on a meeting of this board that was held in Olympia last week. Come to find out, this is one of the groups of people that will be representing our sportsfishing interests and advising WDFW in the North of Falcon process. I was amazed and appalled to find out how many commercial fishermen and commercial interests were represented on the "Sports Fishing Advisory Board" . Some of the same people who are commercially raping our waters of the resource are sitting in a room dictating to the WDFW and any sports interests who are members how they feel the resources should be managed for sportsmen . And the department personnel new these guys on a first name basis and were soaking this all up. WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!? THIS REALLY OPENED MY EYES !!!!

The WDFW and Jeff Koenings have said that they want to get the public more involved in setting policy and seasons. There will be a public meeting held by WDFW on February 22 at the Lacey Community Center. The meeting will likely last a good portion of the day. There will be regional forecasts given and there will be discussions on regional fisheries. It is not yet clear how much public input will be allowed and whether department policy/strategy in the North of Falcon Process will be discussed. I plan to take the day off and spend it at this meeting. I would hope that we could pack this building with concerned sportsfishermen who are interested in the future of our resources. Could everyone please help to get the word out?!

For a little more insight into the Sportfishing Advisory Board, you might contact Les Johnson; he sat on the board for a couple of years. The board does not appear to concern itself (at the present time) with anything but salmon fishing and the majority of members appear to have some sort of commercial interest in sportfishing. Most seem to be or to represent marina and resort operators or big time boat and motor retailers. I sat in on a meeting or two and these members always vote as a bloc and have a well-defined agenda. Les was one of the only members not operating from an "it's my pocketbook" point of view.

[This message has been edited by Preston Singletary (edited 01-24-2001).]

Dan, I read about the Sportsfishing panel in early December and called Pat Patillo to inquire about Steelhead Advisory panels. Pat referred me to Bob Gibbons at DFW, and Bob encouraged me to apply for a seat on the state's "Steelhead and Cutthroat Advisory Panel" (one that I'd never heard of). So I did. And I drummed up some letters of support from friends.
Last night I received a letter from WDFW confirming my appointment to the "Steelhead and Cutthroat Advisory Panel". Their letter states:
"This group is an extremely important communication link between the department and key constituent groups on issues related to steelhead and coastal cutthroat. This appointment is for 2 years and is renewable."

My role, as far as I can tell, is to give voice to public concerns, and to keep folks informed about WDFW policies, both proposed and in place. I have no connections with the fishing industry other than feeding it most of my disposable income. Like a lot of NW fisherman I'm addicted to steelhead fishing. My interest in joining this panel lies in reforming state steelhead management to promote increased fish returns, increased sports fishing opportunities, and recovery of depleted native stocks.

I'd like to use this bulletin board (and the Wild Steelhead Coalition's board) as a means of communication.

I haven't done this before, so I'm not sure what to expect or who currently sits on the panel, but right now I'm excited for the opportunity.

Thanks for starting this thread, and I hope people on this board take your words to heart and get involved in the WDFW meetings, post their concerns about DFW policies and/or email me directly.

Nate Mantua
nathanman@netscape.net

Congratulations Nate! Like you, I have no connections with the fishing industry. However it seems to eat up a lot of my disposable income and what little free time I have. You can be assured that next year I will be applying to be on the Sportfishing Advisory Board and maybe the Stealhead and Cutthroad Advisory Panel. Keep us posted on your findings.

I have only attended the one Sportfishing meeting and it appears that Preston is correct that they only focus on salmon fishing. I wasn't aware of the Steelhead and Cutthroat Advisory Panel either. I do know that the same request for nominations as the Sportfishing Advisory Board was also asking for nominations for a similar entity related to Commercial Fishing. I am surprised that these groups exist and so many of use were unaware. It doesn't seem that WDFW has been making this process very public.

Preston. In further reviewing the list of members given to me by Pat Patillo with others who know more of the players in this game, I am of the opinion that many of the most outspoken people may not have been members of the board at all but were sitting in like myself. I don't know many of the names on the board but you may recognize some. I have since been told that a number of the members are, as you say, charterboat operators, guides, resort owners and marine trade association members. This is just my opinion, but these guys are every bit as "commercial" as the netters. They make a living off of this resource and their primary interest is likely to be the almighty dollar and not the conservation and restoration of the resource. Am I off base in this assumption?

There was however, a very heavy contingent of people from the commercial fishing industry involved in the discussions. I don't know these people by name but it was very apparent that they were commercial fishermen and there agenda was to be sure that we (they) catch every last fish of the non-tribal 50%. There was an older lady that appeared to be a representative from a netting group, 3-4 gillnetters from the Grays Harbor area and a couple of netters who were familiar faces (don't know names) that we came toe to toe with during I-696 debates and rallies. I will request a list of attendees from Pat and try to list them in a later post.

Members of the board are as follows: Dan Ayers, Bordy Bentler, Larry Carpenter, Mark Cedergreen, John Edmonds, James Hearn, John Hjort, Rich Kato, Gary Krein, Dan Leinan, Clyde McBrayer, Chris Mohr, Keith Robbins, Bill Robinson, Jack Scherting, Dave Shorett, Butch Smith, Fred Swanstrom, Frank Urabeck, Steve Watrous, Ed Wickersham, Vernon Young and Phil Anderson.

For everyone's information, I think I'm familiar with a few of the folks listed. I'll put what I know, and if anyone has different or additional information, please put it up.

Bill Robinson is the state TU executive director, or such. He's very much a sport fisher advocate.

Ed Wickersham, if he's the one I worked with several years ago, is or was an enforcement officer for the USFWS. He struck me as a very capable man, and definitely has his loyalty on the side of the resources before any user group.

I believe Phil Anderson is a WDFW salmon guy.

Information on any of the others out there?

Fish on...

Todd.

Excellent post, Dan. You are 100% correct. Of all the members listed, only 2 are non-commercial fishers. One of these 2 "sport" members is himself denied information about meeting dates and times. More tomorrow after I do additional homework.

Not a totally bad group! Urabeck is very active in TU, as Dee stated, and the NW Marine Trade Ass'n. John Hjort is another TU member, Edmonds Chapter (just won the TU "Conservationist of the Year" award for 2000). Rich Kato is big name in tackle industry (Sports Service and NSIA). And Vernon Young is a state leader for FFF.

Now, three new "white hats" on the steelhead & cutthroat panel. Lookin' good!

Dan,
1st Congrats on stepping up to the plate. I was sitting here last night reading the posts and decided to quit talking about it and take action. I went on to write an email to the WDFW on issues on how the state manages fishing resources to shellfishing(mainly the hood canal, see the closure in effect till June 1st) Needless to say i have yet to receive a reply. I will give them another couple of days and will continue to hound them until someone replies. Seems like the panel has a SEVERE conflict of interest if commercial fishers are allowed to represent the SPORTFISHERS of Washington. Once again, congrats. If you would like to email me please do. meveleth2@aol.com

To my knowledge, only 3 panel members are truly advocates for sport fishing. All the others get a paycheck from the industry, so it is in their best interests to keep killing fish. WDF&W makes it very difficult for a non-industry person to be on the board because the meetings are scheduled during the workday and are not set on any fixed schedule. Notification is often only a few days prior. Thus, we have a commercial panel made up of industry people, and we have a sport panel, also made up from the industry. Who is speaking for the fish?