Geoduck,
Check out the signature line on my posts...
The WSC is working on every factor we can that deals with recovering wild steelhead...all 4 H's, from habitat destruction on the Sauk and E. Fk. Lewis, to habitat restoration on the Stilly, to commercial bycatch on the Columbia, to instream flows/dam water flow everywhere that dams block anadromous streams, to being an active memeber of the HSRG Hatchery Reform Coalition.
Right now, as we speak, all those things are being worked on.
Sport harvest is part of one of those H's...it, too, has been, is being, and will be worked on.
The WSR issue is one that hits home with steelheaders more than the others, the one where they have to personally take some responsibility. That's part of why it is so contentious.
Of the thousands of posts on WSR, of the hundreds of folks who have chimed in on it, of the dozens of groups that have taken a stance on it one way or the other, where are all of you on...
1. Columbia River Commercial bycatch: I couldn't get one person, pro or con, to accept a free ride to Olympia to go and testify...and I only was able to get a few responses to a post containing a six page letter to NOAA Fisheries regarding this environmental/fisheries tragedy taking place down there RIGHT NOW.
2. Instream Flows: When I went down to testify on this issue, I was joined by two commercial fishermen, NSIA, TU, American Rivers, and one man from the FFF. Posts on the BB's garnered almost no response, much less any attendance or letters about this issue.
3. Sauk river habitat destruction: Some people got really angry about the guy driving heavy machinery in the river, and digging up something like 16,000 cubic yards of spawning gravel, some of which assuredly held redds from endangered PS Chinook...some folks defended him. Did anyone come up with any sort of solution to fix it or prevent it from happening again?
4. Long Live The Kings Hatchery Science Review Group: We all know we need hatchery reform if we want viable hatchery runs AND viable wild runs. The HSRG is coming up with groundbreaking ideas to have both...yet half the fishermen could care less...they just want to bonk, bonk, bonk...the more hatchery fish the better!...while not taking one minute to consider what role wild fish play in hatchery runs, or what it takes to have a good hatchery run, or how to make the coexist. Just more b!tch, b!tch, b!tch.
5. Slides on the Stillaguamish: When Homer2Handed posts all the information about getting funding to implement the Stillaguamish Implementation Review Commission's plan to fix the slides and repair miles of spawning grounds for wild steelhead, endangered Chinook, chums, pinks, dollies, and SRC...who here actually read it all, much less sent in a letter supporting it?
6. Storedahl/Daybreak Mine: Storedahl, who owns/operates the Daybreak Mine on the E.Fk. of the Lewis, is asking to mine millions of yards of gravel out of the river's channel migration zone. How many people here have written a letter, testified, or even expressed any sort of outrage that this kind of thing should even be proposed?
This stuff is all going on RIGHT NOW. Wild steelhead release is, too, but all the rest of this is going on RIGHT NOW.
There are lots of folks, on both sides of the WSR debate, who are doing nothing else about anything else than make wsr the only game in town. WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU?
Come on guys...all this stuff matters.
If you don't care about WSR, fine. If you think arguing about it is worthless, fine.
If you belong to any sort of fishing group whatsoever, bring all these other issues to them RIGHT NOW. I will personally provide all I know about all these issues to anyone who wants to get on the recovery bandwagon, and if I don't know the answer to your question, I'll send you to someone who does.
If your group won't take action on these issues, demand that they do. They are there for you, not the other way around. If they won't...find a new group. I don't care which one...join any group that works on these issues, among all the others that are out there, too.
I'm tired of reading all the statements that "WSR won't save fish" and "what about all the other things?" and "why does the WSC only care about WSR?"...because all those statements have nothing to do with saving fish...getting involved and doing something does, though.
Not everyone can make time to do everything...I know I sure can't. I do know, though, that everyone who has taken literally hours of time to post on these WSR threads could have spent some of that time writing a letter, or even an e-mail, or making a phone call, or speaking up at their group's meetings, on all kinds of other issues that also affect wild steelhead, not to mention all kinds of other wild fish.
Ok...that's my second "soap box" speedh of the day...my blood pressure is getting up from all the crap I keep reading in all these BB's.
Sorry for being so longwinded, and I'm not going to ask anyone to justify what and how much they do, unless they feel like doing it...but I do challenge everyone to compare their time arguing on BB's about stuff to the time they spend doing other things that are probably a hell of a lot more productive for our fish and our fisheries.
Fish on...
Todd