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Tidal Exchange | News, Science & Policy Truth, Law, and Reality-based Washington Wildlife & Fisheries News

NO Coho Catch Reports from Sound Tribes for 2016

Researching a forthcoming story on 2016 Coho harvest, we submitted a public records request to the WDFW — covering all Tribal chinook and coho harvest from the past year. That records request was completed recently and the results were.. well.. Stunning.

At present, not a single Coho has been recorded as caught by the Puget Sound Tribes in 2016… You read that correctly–not one fish was reported caught. While we can't yet make a firm estimate on the total unreported catch, we're confident that on the order of 10,000 Coho were taken in waters adjacent to Seattle alone. Not a single one of them has been reported thus far.

In fact, once the stronger-than-expected run arrived, there were numerous tribes conducting Coho gill-net fisheries all over Puget Sound: Puyallup, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, Skokomish, etc.. How can none of these fisheries have been accounted for and tracked? How can the Tribes and WDFW expect to plan and execute seasons together in a cooperative way when the simplest forms of accountability — reporting catch — has broken down?

This isn't just a little bit of missing data — this is a missing season for Tribal harvest of an entire run, across all of Puget Sound. On a normal year this would be unacceptable. But against the backdrop of the controversy and in-season management done last summer this goes past unacceptable and appears intentionally deceptive.

What about Chinook?
The 2016 Chinook reporting from the Tribes is better, but only slightly, with 6 tribes reporting catches. The Tulalip Tribe deserves credit–they appear to have submitted a full census of their Chinook fisheries: 230 fish tickets submitted and 1677 Chinook caught. The other five reporting tribes (Nooksack, Puyallup, Sauk-Suiattle, Swinomish, and Upper Skagit) combined to report just 37 additional fish tickets and 218 fish in total. Over the coming days, we're going to compare these fish tickets to the days/dates these Tribes had Chinook fisheries open to get a sense for the quality of the reporting here.

No Reports?
Puget Sound treaty tribes with no reports of Chinook or Coho include the Suquamish, Muckleshoot, Skokomish, Lummi, Port Gamble S'Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Lower Elwha, Makah, Squaxin Island, Stillaguamish, and Nooksack Tribes. As above, we're going to crunch the data here to see how many days worth of openers went unreported, in total.

We can't emphasize enough how damaging we feel this is to the already difficult season-setting process. Beyond the loss of the data itself to help better model future seasons, the lack of accountability and transparency is sure to further erode trust between the co-managers. This is the path of ruin — and exactly what we do not need on the heels of such a contentious 2016.
 
have you not heard the indigenous American populace knows as Indians have now found a way to rape the white man after all the years the white man has raped the Indian,,,,
 
They are a Conquered people - they should follow the same rules as everyone else.

If they were more advanced and organized then they would have fought us off and out like we did the Brits... they weren't and didn't and now complain:confused:.

Yea, I'm aware that view might not be popular or PC but if you live here you should be held accountable and not be given a free pass because the US Gov feels sorry for you.

The Romans didn't give up parcels of land for the people they Conquered, nor did the Russians or China.

:s0137:
 
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What are the treaty requirements? If reporting the catch isnt in the treaty , and its probably not, I'd tell the WDFW to piss up a rope if I was one of the tribal leaders.
 
I have said it for years having family in the fishing industry that IF A TRIBE HAS A CASINO THEY SHOULD CUT THERE FISHING RIGHTS DOWN AND IF THE CASINO MAKES ENOUGH MONEY TO SUPPORT THE TRIBE THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE NO FISHING RIGHTS AT ALL IF THEY WANT TO FISH THEY SHOULD HAVE TO JUMP THROUGH THE HOOPS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE
 
They are a Conquered people - they should follow the same rules as everyone else.

If they were more advanced and organized then they would have fought us off and out like we did the Brits... they weren't and didn't and now complain:confused:.

Yea, I'm aware that view might not be popular or PC but if you live here you should be held accountable and not be given a free pass because the US Gov feels sorry for you.

The Romans didn't give up parcels of land for the people they Conquered, nor did the Russians or China.

:s0137:
now based on that statement if you changed it to we the people and the government would you also say we are a "Conquered people - we should follow the rules the government sets for us??."
 
I have said it for years having family in the fishing industry that IF A TRIBE HAS A CASINO THEY SHOULD CUT THERE FISHING RIGHTS DOWN AND IF THE CASINO MAKES ENOUGH MONEY TO SUPPORT THE TRIBE THEN THEY SHOULD HAVE NO FISHING RIGHTS AT ALL IF THEY WANT TO FISH THEY SHOULD HAVE TO JUMP THROUGH THE HOOPS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE

If they have treaty rights to fish an area and they are fishing an area who are you to say that has anything to do with them having a casino. If they can make money running a casino for stupid whites who want to throw their money at them then good for them. Still doesnt have anything to do with them exercising their treaty rights to take fish and game.
 
If they have treaty rights to fish an area and they are fishing an area who are you to say that has anything to do with them having a casino. If they can make money running a casino for stupid whites who want to throw their money at them then good for them. Still doesnt have anything to do with them exercising their treaty rights to take fish and game.
REALLY go get some money together and try to open a casino those that you a protective of will come down on you so fast your head will spin and the Government and State government will be right behind them
 
A few years back, I asked a local tribal elder why they always open casinos but never things like factories on their reservations. He laughed and told me it had to do with continuing their traditional way of life....
...."scalping the Whiteman".
 
A few years back, I asked a local tribal elder why they always open casinos but never things like factories on their reservations. He laughed and told me it had to do with continuing their traditional way of life....
...."scalping the Whiteman".
Lol they are getting even with the white man $5 at a time
 
No one has to go to Casino's. I work on a reservation and drive by a casino every day. Never been there. I have no issue with them fulfilling their treaty rights to fish and take game though. If you dont like it then maybe you can get Donald Trump to renegotiate the deal. Good luck with that.

Although I work on a reservation with 100+ other people in a chemical plant not a single Indian works there.
 
The tribe by where I live the swiniosh or how ever you spell it was one of the biggest problem 's with the Coho fishing closer this year yet they fished and crab and you can ask anyone who has crabbed around the San Juan islands that the tribe boats will steal you sport pots any chance they get and they are allowed to pull pots in the dark so don't leave your pots over night when they are fishing
 

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