08-23-2007, 03:44 PM
I agree with you that natives should be getting more involved with population monitoring, and i think (i certainly would hope) that government agencies would be happy to involve them in such projects. However, they need to be making the effort to become involved. Most state and federal fisheries agencies are under a lot of financial pressure and resources allocated towards outreach would likely have to be taken from population monitoring and research.
Despite the lack of involvement by the natives, it is an uncontested fact that the salmon runs were incredibly low this year in this particular river. Regardless of the causes (ocean mortality etc,) the bottom line is that allowable harvest was lower and the natives did not respect the law.
I know few details about the particular issue, aside from what I have read in the newspaper articles, but as far as I can tell, their main contention was the fact that recreational fishermen were allowed to continue fishing (albeit for chinook) while the natives could not fish for sockeye. I can understand their frustration, but breaking the law, in my opinion was not a very smart expression of that frustration, especially since it made it look like fish conservation was the last thing on their minds, and greed was the first.
[signature]
Despite the lack of involvement by the natives, it is an uncontested fact that the salmon runs were incredibly low this year in this particular river. Regardless of the causes (ocean mortality etc,) the bottom line is that allowable harvest was lower and the natives did not respect the law.
I know few details about the particular issue, aside from what I have read in the newspaper articles, but as far as I can tell, their main contention was the fact that recreational fishermen were allowed to continue fishing (albeit for chinook) while the natives could not fish for sockeye. I can understand their frustration, but breaking the law, in my opinion was not a very smart expression of that frustration, especially since it made it look like fish conservation was the last thing on their minds, and greed was the first.
[signature]