The Commissioners just voted unanimously against the PEOPLE in voting down our request to convert the NOF policy to a rule. Ron Warren recommended a NO vote, and every Commissioners voted NO! It was apparent that the department staff (based on a briefing from AAG Grossman) and the Commissioners knew that if they voted in favor of the conversion, they would have to address the transparency issue in public. They did express their stand on transparency: They said as long as the Tribes say no transparency, then the answer is NO....(but keep asking) Commissioner DAVID GRAYBILL actually said "they should be petitioning the tribes, not the commission." IT'S APPARENT NEITHER THE DEPARTMENT NOR THE COMMISSION HAS ANY REAL AUTHORITY WHEN DEALING WITH THE TRIBES, NOR DO THEY HAVE THE DESIRE OR MORAL COURAGE TO STAND UP FOR THEIR STAKEHOLDERS IN THIS MATTER. We started this petition to bring the citizens voice to those elected and appointed leaders who have the authority to challenge and fix this wrong. We expressed our outrage over secrets being kept from the public and our frustration over a dysfunctional management system that mandates co-management, yet condones, no…encourages one party to dictate to the other how management will be conducted. To our cause, we gathered over 5000 signatures, through a simple grass roots movement. As we stated, at this point we have done all we can do to represent you, our supporters and to let the leadership in this State know we see this issue as a great wrong to the people and more importantly, the fish. Unfortunately, it seems that there is not going to be any change, and that is the greatest tragedy of all, because we all agree that our fish are in critical condition, and if we do not do something drastically different our last fish will be taken. The department, under the authority of the the Commission will continue the ruse that the non-tribal stakeholder have some role in the decision process in our fisheries, but clearly we do not. Our only value is to fill the coffers with our hard earned dollars. Unfortunately, the Commission seems content to keep secrets and make deals against the will of the people, rather than make the hard choices of confronting wrongs and fixing the problems. We will be closing the Petition. Although we did not succeed in getting the negotiations open, it is our hope that we might have shed enough light on the issue that the citizens of the state will see that they no longer have a real voice in the fisheries. Thank you to all our supporters, the media and all who helped in trying to bring some change to our troubled fishers. Good luck to you and especially the fish we all love.