The state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday voted unanimously to overturn a two-year ban on keeping wild steelhead, instead implementing a one fish annual limit.
“It was a compromise that I think will probably upset both sides,” said Pete Schroeder of Sequim, one of the commission’s nine members.
He said a lack of input from the public and treaty tribes before the ban was passed last February played into the decision.
Forks city officials, who petitioned to have the moratorium reheard — that meeting was held last Saturday in Bremerton — maintained that Thursday’s action wasn’t enough.
“We were disappointed because the WDFW (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife) agreed with us,” Forks Mayor Nedra said.
“They proposed that we go back to five (fish annually) and one (per day).”
However, commissioners saw it differently.
“Steelhead really are a unique species,” Schroeder said. “They can’t be looked at the same way harvest-wise or hatchery-wise as salmon.”
The commission sets rules that Fish and Wildlife implements and enforces.