But does

"...the people that were netting only caught 10"

+

"at times communication has been poor with the tribal fishers"

=

netters only REPORTED catching 10...?

Gabe, first of all, thanks for the follow up.



Are you fooking kidding me? What a load of [censored]!

OMG! I'd laugh if I wasn't so offended.

I feel the same way. That is why I asked about the enforcement and then was told about the "poor communication".

Gabe, the reason they only 'said' they caught 10 is cause thats probably all they reported. The tribes up here are notorious for not claiming and being extremely difficult to get counts from.

And yes, these pics are from the coho season. I have seen many of the same nets still there up till a few weeks ago but didn't have the camera to snap any pics. If you wanna see the real situation float from the mosquito lake bridge down to deming. You'll see the madness right now. I have buddies who have been floating it regularly and know for a fact they've got more than 10 so far this year.

Hi,

The Nooksack Tribe and Lummi Nation have hotlines with current tribal fishing schedules.

If you believe there has been a violation or if you see abandoned gear, call WDFW or tribal enforcement officers.

Lummi hotline: 360-384-2252. Lummi enforcement: 360-384-2266

Nooksack hotline: 360-592-5140. Nooksack enforcement: 360-592-9065

Kari

It looks like the Lummi's will have a nice new piece of commercial real estate to sell their netted fish.

Federal grant boosts Lummi Nation's Gateway Center $1.6 million
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/1225004.html

At least we may now have public place to protest if that is your thing.

Thanks, Kari--

Contacts enabling one to lodge a complaint with appropriate authorities have been sorely needed in this thread. Have printed and will add to my cell.

I've occasionally met what I consider "responsible" Nooksack netters, who have shaken their heads and pointed at other nets and indicated frustration that those nets haven't been checked in days.

IMHO, rapid derelict net cleanup should be more of a priority than pursuing fishing violations--but will reporting derelict nets in-season really lead to cleanup?

--mja

Kari thank you for the information. When calling the hotlines what type of information must be provided to the tribal authorities? What else can a person do for example, if the don't have GPS coordinates to provide? What currently are the tribes doing on the enforcement side?

Karl,
Thanks for the info. What happens when derelict nets are brought to the attention of the tribe but nothing is done to remove them? Who else, besides that tribe, has the authority to remove them?

Further up the thread there was a question regarding if the Lummis were allowed to net down river of the Marine Drive Bridge. The guys in the article below tend to think it is legal.

http://americadiversityplace.com/OtherSections/ChroniclesoftheWelcomeTable.aspx

Still about 5 derelict nets from Highway 9 to Nugent's Corner. It isn't like they are even hard to see. There is simply no excuse for the tribe not cleaning up their own shlt.

Those derelict nets should start "fishing" sometime on Thursday when the water goes up.

AP--

Didja call it in? Call it in!

--mja

I talked to a woman at the 592-9065 Nooksack Enforcement number. They transferred me to a man named Tree(?). He seemed interested in what I had to say and wrote down the location of the nets. He also indicated that they were hoping to do a "stream survey" from their jet boat in the next couple of days. It sounded like the purpose of that trip was a general look at the river and to see how it has changed since the last survey.

In regards to the nets, he said that he was unaware and that they have to wait for "windows of low water" to find and remove the nets. I told him that they've been exposed for weeks and that we've actually just gone through a giant window of low flows that are about to end. He said that his main problem is having staff and operations people to actually do the work.

All in all, he was courteous and seemed interested in fixing the problem but I have to say that it would be much better if they were proactive on their own. It would take someone with a knife about 4 minutes per location to fix the problem.

-AP

You should see if they'll deputize you AP You're a crack shot with that 45 and pretty good at cavity searches from what I have heard. How those things relate to abandoned nets, I am not quite sure.

Nicely done, and nicely reported, AP. Have you forwarded to WDFW?

Forget the knife. Pack the camera. The Seattle Times provides a lot of online digital content these days...

A piece of good news for a change...

I received an e-mail from a friend at the County that said the nets have been removed. Apparently, the Nooksack Tribe played a roll in the removal. For future reference, they said the nets have IDs tags linking them to individual tribal fishermen. If you see a net you can take that number down, note the location, and they'll know exactly whose net it is.

A big thanks to the anonymous County employee for taking the extra time and effort to work on this.



-AP

Glad to hear this, Aaron!

Nice job!

Epic Win! Thanks for taking the time. I think it might be time for a river cleanup pretty soon focusing on the middle stretch of the main stem. It would be nice to do it before the river spills this spring.

Nice work AP!

+1