Shiosaki leaving wildlife panel
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission charted significant gains and losses during its meeting Friday and Saturday in Spokane Valley:
“The citizen commission, which sets policy for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, approved spending $5.4 million to purchase 3,600 acres of private land for additions to state wildlife management areas in Okanogan County.
“The nine-member panel also learned that Fred Shiosaki, of Spokane, is resigning midway through his second six-year term.
Shiosaki, 82, said the six commissioners appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire in the past two years have changed the dynamics of the panel, leaving him in a frustrating minority on a few issues.
Shiosaki is one of the few commissioners in recent decades who could be described as an avid angler, yet Western Washington sportfishing groups are likely to welcome his resignation. Several of these groups have criticized Shiosaki for not supporting recreational anglers’ demands for a higher share of salmon quotas.
“People have taken the perception that I favored commercial fishermen,” he said. “I just favored equity. It appears to me that the commission has now shifted to favoring sportfishing over the commercial fishing that supports some small Washington towns with people who live there and pay taxes there.”
The shift in the commission became clear during winter, when the new members broke general protocol and elected Jerry Gutzwiler, of Wenatchee, as chairman, passing over Shiosaki, a commissioner for eight years and vice chairman since 2005.
The snubbing angered some legislators, who threatened to block approval of the new chairman.
“My goal was to balance out the representation” to ensure that state assets are put to best use, Gregoire responded to reporters following up on the issue. She said, for example, she wanted to make more state land available for cattle grazing, so she appointed Moses Lake’s Chuck Perry, a rangeland and grazing sustainability consultant.
She also acknowledged she wanted to ensure that commercial and recreational fishing were both represented on the panel.
After announcing his resignation at the end of the meeting Saturday at the Mirabeau Park Hotel, Shiosaki said he was proud to have championed several causes during his terms, such as a youth fishing program that provides equipment and a day of trout fishing for more than 10,000 youngsters a year statewide. The Fishing Kids program attracted 1,020 kids and 200 volunteers from the Spokane area to Clear Lake on May 5.
Shiosaki said the biggest eye-openers during his tenure were “learning how dedicated and professional the Fish and Wildlife Department employees are and how many steps they must take to work through the legal requirements of getting anything done.”
Most of the two-day meeting in Spokane Valley dealt with presentations and public comment on issues the commission or the department will take on later in the year. Among them:
“ Treatment of Sprague Lake to kill the existing fishery and restock with largemouth bass, panfish and trout that will attract more anglers than the current fishery dominated by hard-to-catch walleye. Public meetings on the proposal are likely to be scheduled in July.
“ Addressing the surge of various recreation groups using state wildlife areas by establishing and enforcing restrictions, such as camping limits, bans on incendiary ammunition for target shooting and leash laws for taking dogs into wildlife areas during bird nesting seasons.
“Authorizing special permits for body-gripping traps to deal with nuisance wildlife such as beavers and moles.
The commission’s next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 3-4 in Anacortes. Shiosaki said he hopes the governor will appoint another person from Spokane to fill his slot. With Shiosaki’s resignation, the commission is now represented by three members from the East Side of the state and five from the West Side.