Whats the deal? Is it legal? I know they don't get counted with out a fish ticket from a real buyer. I'm getting sick of watching this crap down at chambers bay. 5$ a fish and they have tubs full. This is BS.

I agree. I have seen them do it on the Skagit as well. They dredge the sh*@ out of a hole and just throw the fish in the back of their trucks. The whole time someone is going around asking the fishermen on the banks, waiting for them to get the hell out if, they want to buy fish. Trashy. As they left, fish were falling out. Not all are like this but this was pathetic. I wanted to kick ass . Quite the display of power and missused rites. No person should have such rites, native or not.

$5 a fish thats cheaper than bait.

I saw people doing this near the Skok last weekend and heading into Belfair at the side of the road of The Bremerton National Airport.

they do it everywhere.. nothing can be done about it.. people have been complaining about it for years around grays harbor.. state looks the other way..they dont care..

I sent a note to the PI about this issue and the need for politicians to get out there and see what is really going on. Our federal reps need to get out there because this is a federal issue.

It's the buyers who need to be educated.

gregoire is out on another "trade safari" to some foriegn country (4th trip far), she has travelled at state expense more in the 8 months she has been there than locke did in 8 years, steal the election, steal our tax dollars for her luxurious travel, miss deadlines to submit legal docs 10 million burn, & when she is there, she looks out her capitol building window from her posh office & sees a barren sound & couldn't care less... graftcorruptionslothabuseneglectwaste i wonder why people are losing faith in the goverment.. until we sue in federal court for the us marshalls to count the fish caught by all we will never have a chance at salvaging this treasure for our kids much less get our supposing 50%...

Umm....she's already done more for fishing then Locke ever did or Rossi ever would have. Do a search.

WDFW has some authority but they are chicken****s. As far as I know the state can yank their co-manager status and thats from the bolt decision. Everytime they exceed quotas WDFW jams their nose farther up their asses instead of doing something about it. And don't even get me started about the 50 gillnets in the nisqually from the mouth to 1-5. OK I'm done ranting.

The only thing Rossi gives a $hit about is helping his Real Estate Development buddies put up more housing developments. If it means filling in The Skagit River to add another 100 tract houses to a development he wouldn't care, as long as there's $$,$$$,$$$,$$$ to be made.
I don't have any love for Gregoire, whom I think is a flippin' idiot, but a well intentioned idiot is better than a malignant crook, anyday.

Driftwood,

Yes, it's legal provided the fish have been accounted for on a standard commercial fish receiving ticket. Some treaty fishermen have commercial fish buyer licenses, or work with a licensed buyer, and the fish are recorded. Some fish are probably sold illegally as well.

WDFW cannot yank a tribe's co-manager status. That action is reserved to the federal court system. As for the treay nets in the Nisqually River, if the Tribe didn't plan on a season to harvest those fish, then they would have just been allocated to the non-treaty fisheries, including commercial. It's not like the non-treaty sport allocation or spawning escapment goal would be increased. Your blood pressure could benefit from not getting upset about things that really don't make a difference.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

The governer's program to clean up oily Puget Sound logs will not do squat unless they do something about the nets. If you can't do anything about the nets, then don't bother picking up the logs. Instead, declare the sound irrecoverable and spend the money elsewhere.

Salmo is always the voice of reason. After seeing pictures of the gauntlet of nets in the Nasty on another site and seeing first hand the rape of Chambers Estuary every day. It just gets to me.

WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS WHY THEY STILL GILLNET AND SELL FISH WHEN 90% OF THEM ARE MAKING HUGE MONEY ($50,000.00 TO 75,000.00) DEALING CARDS AT THERE OWN CASINO'S? I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO ASK ONE OF THEM IF ITS IS WORTH GIVING UP THE $300.00 A DAY TO SPEND ALL NIGHT FISHING WITH A GILLNET. I KNOW SEVERAL MUCKLESHOOT TRIBAL MEMBERS WHO REQUEST VACATION THIS TIME OF YEAR TO FISH THE COMPLAIN ABOUT THE LOW PRICE THEY GET PER POUND.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Driftwood,

A while back I decided to exercise more reason (logic) and less emotion for a lot of things, especially those I'm not likely able to change, and I think I'm living better because of it.

Now ask yourself if those same fish were all caught and killed in a recreational fishery, would you still think the Chambers and Nisqually chinook resource is being raped? If you decide to think about these things logically, they probably won't "get to you" so bad.

Jerry,

Some of the treaty fishermen don't work at casinos, and even if they do, how is it any different if they decide to take a few days off work - at a direct cost to them, than it is for non-treaty sportfishermen to take time off work to fish, for the simple reason that they like to fish? I know one who does just that, because he likes to fish. And one of the reasons he does it with a gillnet is because he knows it p!sses some sport fishermen off.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Hey you ****ing IDIOT!!!! Gregoire has done far more for sportfishing then any of the last 5 or 6 govenors have. Besides Rossi was a commercial advocate, so I suggest you know what the **** you are talking about before you pop off with your dumb redneck republican bull****!!!!

Peace
Superfly

Salmo, I totally hear what you are saying. I just think it is so funny that the tribes ***** about either how bad fishing was or the price per pound they get for fish. Also do not forget that ALL of these tribal members get a yearly, quarterly or monthly checks from these casino that they all don't work at.

And really do you think that tribal gillnet fisherman fish cause its fun????????

Jerry,

Yes, fishing is fun. Even gillnetting, at least drift gillnetting, can be fun. Been there, done that. It's not the same as hooking a wild summer steelhead on my 7 wt fly rod, but it's still fun, especially big kings. It would help if you could understand that not everyone sees the world, or fishing, through your eyes.

As for complaining about the buyer's price for fish, that's a tradition as old as commercial fishing. It's never high enough, well seldom high enough. I remember one year when buyers were paying $4.00 per pound for Fraser sockeye. I could hardly afford my yearly ice chest full for my annual canning supply. So yeah, it's funny. If the price isn't high enough to make fishing worthwhile, the logical thing would be to do something different with one's time. But complaining is so much closer to human nature.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

hey, I am Muckleshoot and I also fish, and no I dont work at the casino dealing cards making 50-60 k a year but we deserve our exclusive rights. Is everyone so ignorant and stupid to forget that western civilization came over to OUR land and came close to bringing ancient civilizations from North American to South American close to extinction. Disease/guns/ killing innocent people in the most barbaric ways...after all Native People been through shouldn't we be able to excercise the rights we died for ? the rights to continue doing what we have done for thousands of years-being "hunter-gathering" people. Unile many westerners who seem to only be successful as corporate scoundrels who perpetuate what they do best...Exploiting. I am new to this forum and it fascinates me that there is still a cowboys and indian phenomenon going on... its sad "can't we all just get along" haha...just my 2 pennies