Northwest Fishing Reports

I'm certainly not a big fan of Trump. But I really do like his pick for Sec of the Interior, Ryan Zinke. I put this under Saltwater since I suspect the Tribes will start up another fish war next year like they did this year. They may find it tougher going. Previous Secretaries for Dem Administration have always favored the Tribes. This one wont.

Fantastic background, check it out. He is from the Northwest (Whitefish) and even played football for the Ducks. He is a lifetime hunter and fisherman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Zinke" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From the wikipedia entry: "Zinke "frequently votes against environmentalists on issues ranging from coal extraction to oil and gas drilling" and received a 3 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters.[21] Nevertheless, Zinke broke with most Republicans on the issue of transfers of federal lands to the states, calling such proposals "extreme" and voting against them.[22] In July 2016, Zinke withdrew as a delegate to the Republican nominating convention in protest of a plank in the party's draft platform which would require that "certain" public lands be transferred to state control. Zinke said that he endorses "better management of federal land" rather than transfer."

From this, the one plus I see is the opposition to turning over federal lands. However, the environmental record is frightening. We need someone who will support not only the protection, but restoration, of habitat, and will stand up to agriculture, logging and development in the process. There's no point in "winning" the fish disputes with the tribes if there are fewer fish to argue over. We need to protect and expand our salmon stocks. This takes a commitment to tighter regulation and enforcement, and it takes money.

I have to agree with jakefish I think. This guy might decide to screw the tribes over but it wont be for benefit of the sport guys or the fish - it will be for commercial fishing. That means us sport guys get screwed even more over time.

Larry3215 wrote:I have to agree with jakefish I think. This guy might decide to screw the tribes over but it wont be for benefit of the sport guys or the fish - it will be for commercial fishing. That means us sport guys get screwed even more over time.

+1

Jake could you elaborate further on his frightening environmental record. I'd like to see the areas where he has failed. To be honest I am not very familiar with him.

This state has always been politically controlled by the Democratic Party. How has that worked out for us VS the commercials?
An office held by a democrat hasn't been as and never will be good for our fisheries. Fisherman aren't lining their campaign pockets with donations like the tribes and commercials do.

Here is his voting scorecard, with explanations from the League of Conservation Voters:http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/ryan-zinke
Here he is siding with Alaska commercial fishers:
http://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote ... management
The only promising thing I see about his environmental record is that he will hopefully still support the USGS climate research (if he is allowed to), as he signed off of the following statement to Obama: "In 2010, as a member of the Montana Legislature, he signed on to a letter calling global warming "a threat multiplier for instability in the most volatile regions of the world" and arguing that "the clean energy and climate challenge is America's new space race." The letter warned of the "catastrophic" costs and "unprecedented economic consequences" associated with failing to act on climate change and asked President Barack Obama and then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to push through sweeping climate and clean-energy legislation."http://www.motherjones.com/politics/201 ... ate-change

He has of course since then backtracked and made statements denying climate science, hopefully only in an effort to appease his party.

As for which party better serves angler's interests in Washington, it isn't hard to track down the voting records of legislators, but since WDFW is included in the state general budget, I don't know how much we can know about the negotiations that go into it. The general trend is pretty consistent - R - cut spending - D - increase spending. I see the fishing license increase as the natural next step after they started charging use fees for state parks.

Try thinking realistically. Its Trump, the Republicans won, you are not going to get Sally Jewel. Wake up! At least this guy has a northwest background. 4-5 years in Eugene, he probably has fished Steelhead in the Alsea, the Umpqua, maybe trout on the Deschutes.

Get real! It could be worse. The GOP runs the country, oil/gas and all the rest, it is what it is.

BARCHASER wrote:Try thinking realistically. Its Trump, the Republicans won, you are not going to get Sally Jewel. Wake up! At least this guy has a northwest background. 4-5 years in Eugene, he probably has fished Steelhead in the Alsea, the Umpqua, maybe trout on the Deschutes.

Get real! It could be worse. The GOP runs the country, oil/gas and all the rest, it is what it is.

You're right, it definitely could be worse. He could have chosen an exec from Weyerhaeuser or Shell for the position. He at least chose someone who at one point was open to listening to actual science about the threats that our environment faces, and he appears to be willing to stand up protect federal lands and parks from private interests. This isn't a sky is falling moment for us anglers, but I don't see it as anything to celebrate either. It is just a wait and see moment.

I think if Zinke tries to tip the balance against the tribes in negotiations in the North of Falcon process (Bureau of Indian Affairs is part of Department of Interior), negotiations will fall apart and the state will be in court with the tribes longer than Zinke and his appointing president are in office. Federal litigation moves at a snail's pace.

Jakefish wrote:

BARCHASER wrote:Try thinking realistically. Its Trump, the Republicans won, you are not going to get Sally Jewel. Wake up! At least this guy has a northwest background. 4-5 years in Eugene, he probably has fished Steelhead in the Alsea, the Umpqua, maybe trout on the Deschutes.

Get real! It could be worse. The GOP runs the country, oil/gas and all the rest, it is what it is.

You're right, it definitely could be worse. He could have chosen an exec from Weyerhaeuser or Shell for the position. He at least chose someone who at one point was open to listening to actual science about the threats that our environment faces, and he appears to be willing to stand up protect federal lands and parks from private interests. This isn't a sky is falling moment for us anglers, but I don't see it as anything to celebrate either. It is just a wait and see moment.

I think if Zinke tries to tip the balance against the tribes in negotiations in the North of Falcon process (Bureau of Indian Affairs is part of Department of Interior), negotiations will fall apart and the state will be in court with the tribes longer than Zinke and his appointing president are in office. Federal litigation moves at a snail's pace.

If that happens, we may not be able to fish at all until its all resolved. Remember this last year - we had no fishing until the NOF disputes were resolved and seasons could finally be set. I think its closer to sky is falling than not, but we will have to wait and see.

Jakefish wrote: I think if Zinke tries to tip the balance against the tribes in negotiations in the North of Falcon process (Bureau of Indian Affairs is part of Department of Interior), negotiations will fall apart and the state will be in court with the tribes longer than Zinke and his appointing president are in office. Federal litigation moves at a snail's pace.

Of course, no recreational guys WANT to lose fishing opportunities. But the reality is, we (non-tribal) are being held hostage by the tribes exactly because we don't want to lose any fishing opportunities! You see, by having our NOAA permits tied to the Tribes, all the Tribes have to do is say they are not going to negotiate and everything starts falling apart! Exactly what happened last year. And it looks like we are all set up to have a repeat performance this year as well. We really need a major overhaul of the "Co-managment system" that is now so screwed up that the Tribes are dictating whats going to happen and WDFW tries to make it look like they have some say in things. The reality is that we (the non-tribal citizens) are viewed as a nuisance to be ignored rather than a player at the table.