This info is from Fishnnut, who is on the state shrimp advisory board:

Murphy, Just got off of our WDFW shrimp
advisory board conference call. This was the outlook for the closures. Could you
please post this: Marine Area 11 will close today, Area 10 will close on after
Thursday, excluding Elliot Bay which might stay open thru Saturday and possibly
extend thru the following Thursday depending on fishing pressure. Marine Area 8
& 9 will close next Saturday night. Iceburg point (southern San Juans) had less
pressure, possible due to bad tides, had 45 boats-10 less than last year, and
will probably go until early June, unless something weird happens. Northern San
Juans Has a low count too. It closed July 4th last year and has low shrimping
boat counts. The guys caught at Edmonds with the 1800#s of shrimp will have
those factored into our counts using 14 per pound. At 1800 shrimp thats 128.57
pounds! This decreased our season by at least one day.
Thanks
Ron

This bites hard

What a (%&&%^(*() joke, area 11 had a 600 pound quota and its gone. I just want to hit something.

Time to sink a commercial boat.

NEN

Nookie where did ya get 600 pound quota?

Never mind I found it

FISHING RULE CHANGE
WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091


April 20, 2004

Recreational shrimp fishing season closing immediately in Marine Area 11

Action: Recreational shrimp fishing for shrimp will close immediately in the Vashon Island area, Marine Area 11.

Effective date: Immediately.

Species affected: All shrimp species.

Location: All waters of Marine Area 11.

Reason for action: The recreational share of spot shrimp has been taken in the area covered under this rule it was a very small quota, only 600 lbs.

Other information: This area will reopen in approximately two weeks for non-spot shrimp with a 150 foot maximum fishing depth restriction is in effect to protect spot shrimp. See page 127 of the "2003-04 Fishing in Washington" rules pamphlet for descriptions of spot, coonstripe, and pink shrimp.

Information contact: Dave Sterritt, Point Whitney (360) 586-1498 ext 228; Rich Childers, Point Whitney (360) 586-1498 ext 400; Mark O'Toole. La Conner (360) 466-4345 ext 241.

Fishers must have a current Washington fishing license. Check the WDFW "Fishing in Washington" rules pamphlet for details on fishing seasons and regulations. Fishing rules are subject to change. Check the WDFW Fishing hotline for the latest rule information at (360) 902-2500, press 2 for recreational rules. For the Shellfish Rule Change hotline call (360)796-3215 or toll free 1-866-880-5431.

Indians were shrimping 7 days a week for three weeks ahead of the sports fishers who will get 5 days on the water again

I was wrong about the guys with the 1800 shrimp closing us by one day. it did, however, put a big dent in our seasons.

The sports shrimping seasons are just another example of shutting down thousands while a handful fish. I am so tired of it I don't know some days if I have any fight left in me. I can't remember but I think it is 4 guys get the commercial harvest around here....and then the 6 big commercial boats with Alaska licenses on them come to Edmonds and fish for the one indian woman ..7 days a week with 100 pots on each boat.

I honestly think I have a stomach ache thinking about the lopsided state of our fisheries. I am going to try to dredge up the figures for the indian harvest of the shrimp we get a total of 5 days to fish for and only 3 weekend days....What the hell is wrong with us? How did we allow ourselves to be managed out of our beloved fisheries? We argue for weeks about releasing wild steelhead and fly fishing and all that crap and yet we are being pushed out of our fisheries by the tribes and commercials. Go ahead and put your head in the sand or up your @@@ but it is so true. I just don't know if we have the fight to overcome it anymore. It seems like it just gets worse all the time. Do I sound pessimistic? Well I am.

Basically, a commercial fishery for spot shrimp did not exist in the Puget Sound prior to sportmen discovering them - which I believe occured in the early 90's.

Boy it sure exists now!!!

Slab & Gramps,

There was a commercial fishery, at least in Elliot Bay, in the 1950s or before.
The problem is that recreational effort for all species of fish and shellfish has increased allmost exponentially in the last two or three decades. The equiptment used is highly sophisticated and extremely effective. Something has to give; either a reduced limit, shorter seasons, or both. The resource is finite. What everyone should remember is that these are recreational fisheries not subsistance fisheries as the State of Alaska has. If you want a subsistance fishery then allow snagging, dipnetting, etc. in areas like the Quilcene river. Go out fishing, take the family or friends, have a great time whether you bring any food home or not. That is what recreational fisheries are meant to be.

I agree Grandpa and Slab. This is an utter outrage. Every year we get fewer and fewer days and the tribes and commercial get more and more. I wonder who the hell is keeping track of what they're catching. I'll guarantee you there's not much accountability there. Last year we got what six or seven days and this year we get five. Whoopy ding. We also put 50 times the money into the economy with all the money spent on gear etc etc etc. I knew we were toast when I seen four Fish and Game at the dock on Sunday. Be nice if they'd pay that much attention to the commercials and tribes. I plan to write a letter to my legislator, the WDFW, the Commision and the Governor. Might not do much good but I'm damned tired of this BS.

Good points Hoghunter...I am amazed at the enforcement effort directed at sports fishers and the almost absence of it directed at the commercials...and this endless crap about how the tribes do their own enforcement....come on guys...get real!@!! How can we know if the tribes get their (undeserved) half of everything if we can't verify anything they do? This insanity has got to come to a stop somewhere somehow...someday.

I realize that the effort by sports shrimpers and crabbers has exploded but what does anyone expect since we are shut down so much of the time here in Puget Sound. No one paid any attention to shrimp and there were tons of crab to go around when we could fish all season in the Sound....What is sick now though is that the tribes are not shut down and do fish all the time for everything....even the sea urchins.....God I'm gonna puke

Slug, I disagree. The number of fisherman hasn't increased nearly as much as the reduction in fishing opportunities. I've fished the sound for 30 years. There used to only be about 20 to 30 boats that fished shrimp. Then salmon seasons started getting restricted and they turn to shrimping etc. etc. Look at crab. We used to have a ten month season and there was a lot of people out crabbing. Then all of sudden it was reduced to what two or three months at most and only certain days of the week. The commercial catch by tribal and non tribal sure the hell hasn't been reduced like that. I see their pots out of Everett every damn time I go out there. What your dealing with is sportsman who pay a ton of money for licences, fee's to launch, gas, moorage and gear and get less and less time to pursue their recreation with every decision made by the WDFW. I don't want to subsistence fish but it would be nice to have our "Fair Share" of fishing opportunities.

slug...what you meant to say is that in the last two or three decades the indians were handed 50+% of all our fisheries and most recently were given the same control over our shellfish. That made the sports pie less than half of what it would have other wise been. Population growth combined with this imbalance of harvest has done much to ruin our fisheries in this state and beyond. Worldwide it is very well documented that commercial fishers have overexploited fish stocks around the globe to the brink of extinction and yet we support them and let their rape continue. What's up with that ?

Why would the WDFW care about the sports fisherman anyway... I mean even if they only opened it for 4 days a year like hood canal, people will still Line up for miles to do it.

they are gonna get us suckers to buy licenses whether its open for 3 days or 300...

I know this is ridiculous. I am a huge shrimp advocate and didn't even get to go last weekend due to my son's baseball tournament in Lynden. The whole time I was calling my shrimping friends to see how they were doing. There are only 17 or 18 commercial non-tribal licenses in the sound. Since the non-tribal commercials cannot go into Hood Canal, that spreads them out into the rest of the Puget Sound and the Straights. We get the majority of the shrimp on the non tribal side in Marine areas 8-1, 8-2, and 9. We get double the take in that area. However they get a huge amount of the straight and San Juans which we get a smaller amount. Since they do not get to go into Hood Canal this entirely offsets them into everywhere else. Sporties get 74,000 shrimp in the canal, they don't get anything there and that offsets our quota everywhere else. Last years state harvest (excluding the ocean) was 109,267 pounds sport, 77,187 pounds commercial non tribal. None of these numbers have anything to do with the tribes. I have no data for the tribes. W. Coyote, the guy that poached all of the shrimp last year only had to pay fines and still has a license? I am still waiting for the publication of the guys caught this year. I would like to see if I can get the tribal numbers, but is probably not possible due to the nature of knowing what we would do with these numbers. I am not happy about it either.

I think it is high time that the tribal catch is published as quickly as the sports counts.