"WDFW welcomes public participation in 2020 salmon season-setting process"

This is the bolded banner that sits atop the recent WDFW announcement for the start of this years North of Falcon.

Of course, we have now become used to the Commission and the Departments efforts to convince us; that by repeating it enough, we will eventually believe it.  But, have we seen any real evidence that they “welcome public participation”?  Sadly, we have seen the opposite.

Three years ago, we started asking for a fair and transparent process. One in which everything was out in the open. Where discussions and dialogue were encouraged and where true negotiations would take place.  Instead, we have been given lies, excuses and word play.

So we thought on the start of another North of Falcon, were the doors are yet again shut in our face, we would re-cap the various excuses our Commissioners have given for why we can’t be an equal partner in harvest decisions.

First, they said that the law does not permit this. They even had the departments lawyers do a presentation to the commission to convince them they didn’t have to comply with the OPMA.  Then they told us the Tribal leaders would not allow the meetings to be open. We questioned Chair Loomis from the NWIFC on this, and she referred us back to the Department.   After that we were told that, because of our “bad behavior” we deserved to sit outside. We pushed harder, and demanded the Department consult the Tribal Co-managers for a resolution. Instead,  Ron Warren cooked up made for Hollywood Plenary Meetings and pointed to them as a solution to the locked doors, but the doors stayed shut. Then came the Government to Government excuse. Which of course rings empty since even that does not in itself prohibit public oversight. 

So now, apparently they’ve decided on Phil Andersons reasoning that we’re just too stupid to understand.  As he implies in his declaration, the North of Falcon negotiations are just too complex for the public to understand…so there’s no reason for them to participate.  You, the citizens of this great state, who have as much right and responsibility as any group in the preservation and management of our fisheries are now being told, by the very people who are supposed to represent you, that you’re just too stupid to participate!

It’s apparent that there is a reason that the Commissioner’s, the Department and the Tribal Co-managers DON’T WANT YOU TO FIND OUT WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON. And it doesn’t have anything to do with these excuses. It has everything to do with just how smart you really are!

If these meetings were opened and we could hear and see just how unfair the decisions are to the recreational community, there would be OUTRAGE!  THIS IS WHY THEY WILL FIGHT WITH EVERYTHING THEY HAVE TO KEEP US OUT!

So, with all the lip service that WDFW and the Commission have given to “welcoming public participation”, the truth of the matter is, they are afraid of real transparency because it will expose the dirty under belly that is the North of Falcon.

We cannot let the darkness win. We cannot let the politics and secrets and ‘Good ol boy” corruption prevail.  

We must continue to voice our demands to end these secret meetings even if we have to take this fight to the very meetings themselves.