Let’s be careful out there! 2

You can't help but notice.

It's as obvious as a leaping salmon.

Fish and fisherman are in the news.

This ongoing salmon season – we're talkin' Southeast Alaska to Buoy 10 here-  has been one of the best in recent memory and has brought anglers out of the woodwork!

Enter the media.

 Predictably,  habitually and constantly the mass media seeks out negative or controversial news. The news room mantra dictates "if it bleeds, it leads" and regional fishermen's image has been "bleeding" profusely as of late.

It started with a WDFW news release regarding the wide open salmon bite out at Sekiu. Chinook, coho and pinks were on tap and the tap was flowing freely.
The Sekiu fishery for coho and chinook is "selective" meaning that wild fish with an intact adipose fin must be released unharmed. However, once the chinook sport fishing quota is reached, the fishery closes to chinook retention.
In their haste to fill their four-fish pink salmon limit, anglers were inadvertently keeping juvenile, fin-clipped chinook.
WDFW fish checkers at the Sekiu docks, brought the situation to the attention of local anglers with little effect. It was only after WDFW issued a press release essentially threatening a complete closure and enforcement personnel started writing citations that anglers sat up and took notice.

Anglers fishing the Skokomish River at the southern end of Hood Canal near Shelton, Washington have been described as infamous and this seasons events did little to "clean-up" their reputation.
The "Skok" saw a strong run of chinook this season and was literally elbow-to-elbow with as many as 2,000 anglers a day plying the waters. Unfortunately, the sanitary facilities provided at the WDFW access were not adequate to serve the crowd of anglers and "elbow-to-elbow" fishing resulted in "cheek-to-cheek" conditions in the woods bordering the Skokomish.
Unfortunately, the Skokomish estuary harbors a very productive and lucrative shellfish fishery immediately downstream of the, uh, numerous "indiscretions".
State Department of Health Shellfish Manager Bob Woolridge ordered the closure of the Tribe's oyster harvest at the mouth of the Skokomish. There is so much visual evidence and reports of human waste on the banks of the river, and since people eat oysters raw, Wooldridge said the health department felt it only prudent to close the harvest.

The tribe was not amused.

“The fact that the Skokomish Tribe must close an important shellfish harvest area as a direct result of non-Indian activities that are authorized by WDFW is an outrage and violates the tribe’s treaty rights,” said Skokomish Tribal Chairman Charles “Guy” Miller.
Once again, sportsmen "soiled" their reputation in the eyes of the public.

Just this past Friday, September 11, 2009, Bryan Johnson of KOMO 4 News, filed this report:

Fishermen spat leads to Puyallup River closures

PUYALLUP — A huge run of pink salmon, also known as humpies, has fishermen crammed into available space on the Puyallup River.

But if they come back Sunday, these fishermen could face fines of $109.

The lower reaches of the Puyallup River were ordered closed to recreational fishing between noon Sunday and noon Tuesday after an angry confrontation last Sunday between sport fishermen and tribal fishermen who were using driftnets.

John Orton said he was fishing the river Sunday when a driftnetter dropped a net just a few feet behind a group of recreational fishermen.

Orton said one of the fishermen yelled, "What are you after, fish or people?"

Angry words followed and Orton says the tribal fishermen circled around him and others effectively trapping him in the net. Orton said he was able to jump clear but one man had to cut his way out.

He immediately filed an assault complaint with Puyallup Police. But since the river bed is actually on reservation land, the investigation was turned over to Puyallup tribal police.

Tribal spokesman John Wimer said the incident is still under investigation, but he said normally, tribal fishermen warn recreational fisherman as they head up the river and they yell out as they drift down with the net.

The recreational fishermen say they heard no such warnings.

The State Fisheries Department says the incident Sunday appears to be isolated, but others say there were angry words both Sunday and Monday.

The tribe and the state Dept of Fish and Wildlife agreed Friday morning that the lower reaches of the river would be closed to recreational fishermen during the Indian net fisheries time, which for the next three weeks are from noon Sunday to noon Tuesday.

The recreational fishermen will be able to fish above Freeman Road and North Levee Road.

The tribe says it will post the areas with warning notices. Wildlife agents say they will patrol both sides of the river asking people to leave, warning that if they don't, they face fines of $109.

The above story and associated video can be found on komotv.com

While it could be argued that, at least in the Puyallup incident that it takes two to tango, the fact that sports anglers are in the news is far from "good news".
As sports anglers we owe it to our children and the resource to know the regulations and treat the fish, other user groups and each other with respect.

There are those in the general public (PETA, ELF and the Humane Society) that would just as soon not see us fishing…at all.

We have a constant battle with government agencies (NOAA and the proposed San Juan closure) and we have to fight for our allocation of salmon each and every year at the North of Falcon season setting process. In this day and age, we need to do it better, cleaner and in a more positive light than ever before. As a user group we must have the honesty to know and follow the regulations, the compassion to treat each other fairly and the integrity to do all this even when no one is looking.

All I am saying is: Let's be careful out there!