Hey,
I want to personally thank any of you that came by my demonstration table at the Sportsmans Show and picked up an application to join RFA. It is my pleasure to be a part of this group, it has the membership base and the political expertise to potentially have a significant impact here in the NorthWest in our fight against commercial overharvest. It was great talking to folks about it and I look forward to promoting the RFA at the Seattle show in March!

Jim

Guess I didn't see your booth while I was there on Saturday. What is the RFA??

JimB I seem to remember reading somewhere that you did not support RFA, why the change of heart?

Iron,
That was just at the very beginning and quite honestly for personal reasons that hopefully are behind all of us. I have it from Mike Gilchrist the thrust behind the RFA that it is. I have been a member for quite awhile and have been very impressed with the communication and approach that the RFA takes towards issues. I do not know what goes on behind the scenes but what I see I like. Hope that helps answer your questions. No group is perfect but the key ingredient is the leadership and at this point in time I like what I see in the RFA.

Thanks,

Jim

allright,I'll bite what is the RFA

Rowdy Frickin' A-holes?????

Please let us know.

What's the RFA's position on statewide year-round wild steelhead catch and release in Washington?

Bruce

would somebody please tell those of us in the dark, what in the heck is the RFA?

RFA National

RFA Washington State

B. Gray:

NO! No more questions until he answers the one currently on the table. As far as we know he could be one of the elusive Red-Faced Armadillos:


Not a critter that I'd want to run into in a dark alley.

Damn! I need to get quicker at my photo work.

[ 01-29-2002: Message edited by: Dave Jackson ]

Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA)

I am the Washington State Co-Chairman. I report directly to our executive director and our legislative director. They are two of what is only three or four full time lobbyists working in DC for recreational fishing interests. Compare that to 37 for commercials and you can see where the problem lies. Essentially what we try to do is take an issue, bring all the recreational partys together (anglers, industry, etc) and find common ground. Then we take advantage of our 501-C4 non-profit status to put as much political pressure as possible to get things done. When we find a elected official that wont work with us, we may support a person who is running against him/her. Or we may put up someone to run against him/her. We have no problem putting money into campaigns, but its the voters that give us our power to change things. It depends on a large membership with grassroots lobbying to bring it all together. For more info, the websites were listed in an above post. I appoligize for lack of updates on the local site as much of it is old news.

Any specific questions, feel free to ask.

On the wild steelhead thing, go to
http://www.savefish.com/newsletns.html The second link down is our position on all issues where release is imposed by regulation.

The short of it is that we don't generally support total release by regulation unless there is a damn good scientific reason.

Mike,
Thanks for responding quickly!! Phew! I hope this helps all who wondered. Sorry that I didn't have the answers but I just know some of the basics at this time...what I know...I like.

Thanks again Mike.

Jim

After reading up on the RFA I became a member last year. I believe overall they are a good alli
for us sportfishers in the NW. The one thing I am in disagreement with is their position on the WA statewide native steelhead release reg proposal. I don't agree that we should wait until their is "damn good" science available before we try saving our native steelhead runs. There is enough science and evidence on the decline of these irreplacable and priceless fish to take what precautions we can now - especially in light of the fact that C&R regs don't take away angling opportunity; and in fact may save it from the Fed. ESA and NMFS some day in the future. However, ....

.... with that being said, and the likelyhood that the WSR regs are likely to pass anyway, I think this is a good organization to support. We need all the lobbying power we can get in Wash. DC, and these guys are on our side a vast majority of the way. Including strengthening opposition to commercial netting, as Jim aluded to. Thanks for your efforts on our behalf Mike Gilchrist.

RT

RT, good comments. There seems to be some "damn good science" supporting SWR of wild steelhead available here and now! Also look at past and present trends to see where we are heading in the future unless we change our angling practices and attitudes. My hopes are that RFA will support this proactive regulation which blends angling opportunity and conservation rather than question it.

I don't claim to me the most knowledgeable person on steelhead issues, but from what I can tell, there is pretty good science that wild steelhead should be released in MOST rivers in this state.

There are a few rivers where the science more a matter of theory rather than fact combined with the mistrust of the current management system to maintain the populations at fishable levels. I really can't blame anyone for that mistrust because I share it, but what is different about RFA is a difference in philosophy.

We are NOT a conservation organization, we are an angler rights organization. We don't go out of our way to critique our own methods of fishing because our impacts are a drop in the bucket compared to the impacts of other problems. In the rare cases where anglers are the primary reason for the decline, then we are willing to take our lumps, but we are not willing to just give up on the tough issues and concentrate on further restricting ourselves just because its easier. We have over-regulated people out of the sport already, mostly the average person who doesn't want to spend an hour studying the regulations book just so they can go catch a couple fish.

The WSR issue is a balance. We certainly are happy to endorse steps that preserve angler opportunity. But it becomes difficult when those steps eliminate what to some anglers IS opportunity. We also step back and take a national perspective on the issue. Mandating release of an entire fishery is a very dangerous proposition. We can not allow that management tool to become common place as a result of the fisheries management process failure to manage things correctly. It removes anglers from the sport, hurts our industries, and allows our managers to maintain fish stocks at critically low levels because with C&R we still have the "opportunity" to fish for them.

What we would be most comfortable supporting is management changes that result in "sustainable fisheries". In the case of steelhead, that most likely is a total overhaul of the methods used to determine escapement goals. If realistic escapement goals result in WSR (as it probably would in most cases) then so be it. But WSR by regulation is tougher. We will accept it as a last resort, but only begrudgingly.

Well said Mike, my thanks go out to you for all your time and effort.

Thanks Mike, I appreciate your candor and clairification. Now I better understand RFA stand on the statewide wild steelhead release issue. I agree there are a lot of other issues regarding wild steelhead. But personally I view the issue simply as this: As anglers we have to see the forest for the trees. Let's do our small part and take a proactive approach releasing wild steelhead rather than the current approach that closes rivers that were "deemed healthy" and further dissolves our opportunity to fish for wild steelhead at all.

Mike,

This is great to get to learn more about RFA without having to make time to find it!
After reading your comments I will be joining.

A few thoughts concerning statewide release of all wild steelhead. I have been involved in fish issues for quite a few years in So. Oregon. We all need to remember that once we give up harvest of wild steelhead, we will likely NEVER get it back. These types of restrictions are very, very difficult to reverse. As one person mentioned, it also sets a very precarious precident for future management.

I am a member of the Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association (NSIA) and the primary reason I joined was that I saw fishermen giving up opportunity since the '70's when I started in the Sporting Goods business and no one was standing up for the fishers. The fishing industry took it in the shorts for many years and has lost over 10,000 jobs in the region in the last 20 or so years. When I read guys saying "fishers must do their small part to make a difference" my gills flare like a pissed off buck steelhead.... where have these folks been the last 20 years that we have lost fisheries, gained volumes of regulations and given to the point of making our economy suffer????? We have given to the point of many, many people losing their jobs and business while, until recently, the loggers kept doing what they were doing, the irrigators did what they were doing, the gill netters do what they do, the predators go unscathed, the polluters get slapped on the wrist and the other nations plunder our fish..... yet some folks keep saying, "well, we gotta do our part as fishers"..... Hello!?!? When do we say enough and start asking others to do their part?

When we join groups like NSIA and RFA....... good on you Mike, where do I sign on.

Straydog,

There is an online signup at

www.savefish.com

or get me a message with you address and I can send you out some info.

mailto:thinker@gamefishin.every1.net

Straydog,

After reading your post, my question to you would be this:

Why can't we see to it that the other groups do their part AND still do our part?