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Puget Sound Area 9 Closing!

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  flyfisha1 
#1 ·
Fellow flyfishers,

Yesterday, I submitted public testimony at the North of Falcon meeting where the salmon seasons for Washington, including Puget Sound, are set.

At a previous meeting, it was decided to close Area 9 to all fishing. This includes fishing from the beach for the month of July, which was open last year. I tried to get them to reverse the decision yesterday.

There is still time to voice your opinion. They will begin finalizing the rule changes this coming monday.

It appears that the WDFW does not have a model that includes beach fishing. In other words, they don't know how many people fish the beaches in July for early coho in an area that includes: Point No Point, Eglon, Salisbury Park, Marrowstone Island, and all the west shore of Whidbey Island. Area 9 affords the most opportunities in Puget Sound for catching coho from the shore.

I thought the closing was terribly unfair to people who: prefer to fish from the beach; don't have or can't afford boats; vacationing families at the State Parks (Casey, So. Whidbey, Flagler etc.) spending a summer vacation, including the 4th of July, during a down economy fishing from the beach; and definitely those of us who catch and release while flyfishing.

If you would like to voice your opinion while letting the WDFW know how many people fish from the beaches of Area 9, email:

Pat Patillo at: PATTIPLP@dfw.wa.gov

Phil Anderson at: ANDERPMA@dfw.wa.gov

Tony Floor at: floortaf@dfw.wa.gov


Thanks,
Leland.
 
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#3 ·
There was some heavy lobbying by boaters and special interest groups from Port Townsend and Port Angeles to open a previously closed chinook kill fishery in April under the guise of protecting a Dungeness run of chinook.

We were the victim of some heavy handed horse-trading.

Leland.
 
#5 ·
juro said:
...Another example of wholesale regulation without taking the time to consider the impacts to everybody IMHO.
Yet another example of special interest groups with their head buried in their @$$e$, IMHO. I'm getting tired of reading and hearing about all of these groups taking matters into their own hands and deciding "what's best" for the species in question, as well as for those people having an impact, or being impacted by, the presence of the species, particularly when there's a hidden agenda driving the decision-making. Perhaps it's time for me to get out of the aquarium industry and use my education and experience to start slapping these groups upside the head.
Pardon my tone, but it's frustrating... recreational fishing accounted for over $116 BILLION during 2001 (the latest data available); do these idiots honestly believe that with all the money spent by recreational anglers, many of us who know the habits and life histories of the fish better than researchers, we would want this pastime to go away? Of course we don't; we want the fisheries to thrive. DUH!
 
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