The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife held a meeting at the chamber in South Bend on Thursday, August 11, to present their 2016 Washington's Wild Future plan. Earlier in 2015, the WDFW asked people throughout Washington to share their thoughts on what the department is doing right, and where it can improve. Throughout the survey many citizens responded bringing up such issues as fishing regulations to the desire for more recreational and commercial fishing opportunities.
There are a number of proposals regarding the management of Washington's fish populations. Maintaining and expanding fisheries is one goal of the WDFW's, through monitoring and evaluating fish populations, negotiating and implementing management plans, renewing and creating endorsements that requires to fish for salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River, maintaining hatchery production, and enforcing laws designed to protect fish and wildlife.
The WDWF also plans to modestly increase fishing and hunting license fees, which the WDFW states is more closely aligning Washington's fees with neighboring state's. The WDFW also sites that even more young people would be able to fish for free, and non-residents would pay higher fees.
The WDFW also aims to provide more access to private hunting lands, through addressing the timber companies and encouraging them to hold their access fees at moderate levels.
Members of the public attended the meeting, and the general response of the public was negative. The general consensus was that the WDFW would lose a lot of recreational fishermen if they raise the fees at this point. At the end of the meeting the WDFW had heads of all of the different animal divisions present to take questions from the public, and the public also submitted questions to later be answered. Notes from previous meetings can be found at wdfw.wa.gov/wildfuture/