Sorry Eddie & Smalma. I don't subscribe to your view.

I believe MOST of the finger should be pointed at the State & Federal Officials, Judge Boldt & the tribes. Who have time & time again screwed us over & over & over. Remember the $10 Puget Sound "Enhancement" Fee? I digress.

And YES, I have done something about it. I attend the Compact meetings, joined a couple of clubs and voice my opinions here!

Time after time, it is so easy for us to point the finger at someone else. I did an analysis a while back looking at wild steelhead harvest by the tribes and by us, the sportsmen. It did surprise me when I saw the impact we have is greater than the Tribes. One by one we make little impact, as a group our impact is huge. And I say this not to say that our harvest is the only or even the biggest problem. My thesis is that habitat (and its loss) is the biggest challenge facing our fish. But to deny our impact is to lose all credibility in the arguement - it just isn't true.

Good point Eddie. Like the guy fishing bait on the Snoqualmie last night. No one would notice sand shrimp tails and if they did would they say anything. If you put all the snagged salmon back into the system what would we have.

I think all this blame of the snaggers, netters, tribes, etc is barking up the wrong tree.

Regardless of the growth numbers, the human population has grown tremendously in this state. WIth that has come development, logging, dams, etc. This development has destroyed fish habitat and continues to do so. Its not overfishing that has caused long term decline in salmonid, its degraded habitat.

The cause of degraded habitat is human activity which is chiefly driven by human population growth.

I think we could all quit fishing today and with the current status quo of development salmonid populations would continue to decline.

I'm not saying we sporties don't have an impact. On the whole, (going out on a limb here) we sporties are law abiding citizens that truly care about the resource & practice conservation when able.

My point is that the methods & location of tribal fisheries & distain for cooperating (marking of hatchery fish, nets & more nets completely across rivers where threatened fish migrate, selling wild fish roadside, SHALL I CONTINUE???)

Agencies that are charged with the responsibilities of allocation, protection, enhancement etc. continually in my book fall short of the mark. Can you answer this question?? Who continually gets the short end stuffed as high as it will go? We do. We continually get asked to pay more & give up even more. Less access, less time, less opportunity, etc. etc. Not to say that there aren't a few shining exceptions (Columbia Springers & Halibut tonnage this year). In general, over & over, it is the Sporties who get shafted.