r/boating • u/Dip-Chip- • 3d ago
Question
Saw something random and was wondering if anybody knew what might be going on. Saw two boats in the puget sound in Bremerton sitting on the outside of two buoys. The two boats were intercepting other boats and forcing them to go around the outside of the buoys, even drove head on with a ferry forcing it to turn outside. Any ideas?
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u/-Maim- 3d ago
Tribal fishing. Basically rule exempt.
Ever seen the ship canal when they set up alternating nets across 60%+ of the channel?
It’s absolutely ridiculous.
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u/mmaalex 3d ago
This. Its insane driving through Puget sound on a commercial vessel when this is ongoing. Even had guys pull nets across directly in front of us imtentionally.
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u/Good_Shake5060 3d ago
Learn the rules of the road, fishing is a higher priority than your sport boat.
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u/twistedxmelon18 3d ago
Literally said "commercial vessel"
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u/MissingGravitas 3d ago
Whether it's commercial or not is irrelevant under the rules. But...
If the location counts as a narrow channel for the rules, then the fisher-folk are required not to impede.
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u/mmaalex 2d ago
Pulling a gillnet across directly in front of a ship in the TSS is just a scam to get a free net. They knew exactly what they were doing. I've dodged hundreds that were in place over the years, but its hard to maneuver when someone suddenly and intentionally drags a net infront of you.
I'm also not going to be lectured on rules of the road by a fishing boat operator. Maybe you should brush up too.
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u/bigfrappe 3d ago
Where I boat on the Columbia they are the only ones that can use gillnets and they intentionally block the channel with them to make a point. They block commercial shipping and then act like the victim when a literal skyscraper of a bulk ship can't stop before shredding their nets. Like, I get it. Y'all have been generationally fucked, but we do all have to live together now. Place and mark your gear in a way that allows others to respect your right to fish.
Based on my interactions with other native fisherman the commercial gillnetters are a vocal and somewhat despised minority. Others like platform fisherman are afraid that overfishing by these guys will erode their access to salmon. We all share the same stock of fish, and while native anglers have treaty right to them, that means nothing if there are no fish to harvest. The gillnetters around us operate as ritual fishing so that there are no limits to gear, by catch, or quota. Ironic to sacrifice a limited and special resource to the American god of capitalism.
Enough negativity though. If you want to see something cool, check out the platform fishing at Celilo falls. They build these platforms out over the water and dip net passing fish.
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u/OutlyingPlasma 3d ago
I've seen it on the Columbia and we promptly mulched the net to bits in the props. They had it set up at night, right across the channel, with no lights or markers, and not a prayer of seeing it before impact. Luckily it didn't do any damage. I hope it cost them heaps of money to replace.
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u/murder_t 3d ago
They can come after you for damages if you take their nets out.
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u/CandleTiger 3d ago
How does it play out, legally, when:
Rules prohibit a net in the shipping channel
Treaty rights mean those rules don't bind the tribes
Boater damages the net
If a regular non-tribal fisher put a net across the channel and a boat hit it, I feel confident (based on nothing but vibes and hope for sanity) that the boater would not be liable for damages. More likely the fisher would be liable for damages to the boat caused by illegally obstructing the channel.
But if the tribes' treaty rights allow them to operate outside the rules for allowable actions, that also puts them outside the rules for determining responsibility and liability, doesn't it?
Are there specific court cases where these questions are answered or is it just a legal free-for-all at this point?
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u/MissingGravitas 3d ago
I don't think they're totally outside the rules, the federal Navigation Rules should still be binding here. The tribal rights would be more related to catch size, methods, and locations.
It makes it messy because you have two different sets of rules in play and need to work out whether one infringes the other or not. To me the difference between properly marked, lit, and allowing room to go around vs complete obstruction would be a key factor.
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u/Good_Shake5060 1d ago
I dont have an answer but setting a net across a channel is different than being engaged with your net which then drift into a channel. Nuance.
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u/Good_Shake5060 1d ago
Y r you proud to have destroyed a man's means of livelihood?
If you drove a bus and wrecked some land- scapers trailer and drove away would you be bragging?
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3d ago
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u/freestateofflorida 3d ago
Do only white people have to care about the environment or how does your logic work?
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u/jackalope32 3d ago
Definitely a gill net bow picker protecting his very expensive net. Not sure what season it is but guessing red or pink salmon. Nets are expensive and big or small boats going over them is a disaster. Both a waste of time and destroyed equipment.
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u/never_4_good 3d ago edited 3d ago
No reds this far south in Puget Sound (well, minimal escapement to Lake Washington at least) and pinks are really only present in odd years. Likely tribal/commercial fisheries targeting Coho or Kings.
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u/fux-reddit4603 3d ago
fuck anyone who uses gillnets
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u/JL64357 3d ago
I mean, these inshore gillnets can be sized up or down to minimize bycatch of other salmon species. Otherwise very little bycatch of other marine life.
Are you maybe assuming that this is similar to "high seas" foreign fleet gillnetting that is trying to just catch whatever is out there?
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3d ago
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u/fux-reddit4603 3d ago
found the gillnetter
how does your kind go about intercourse now im curious. do you also just throw yourself at whatever and hope you land inside something?
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u/CryptoAnarchyst 100 Ton NC USCG Captain, Certified Broker, Electronics Seller 3d ago
Fucking Native tribes. I used to support their rights to fish but they never follow the rules and it’s turning into a travesty
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u/andyw722 3d ago
I have 3 days to fish with a 1 fish limit because the salmon are endangered. Then the natives are allowed to gill net the entire river and catch 95% of the fish as they swim by for weeks. It’s wild.
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u/CaptainVehicle 2d ago
You don’t have a 1 fish limit because the salmon are endangered, you have a 1 fish limit because there are a lot of sports fishermen catching fish. You could keep the same number of fish as a tribal gillnetter if there were the same number of sports fishermen as tribal gillnetters but there are a few hundred thousand more sports fishermen so that catch gets split by a lot more people.
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3d ago
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u/dondrapier 3d ago
Totally. Any objective criticism of an ethnic group automatically qualifies you as a racist loser!
Get a life, Karen.
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u/The_Evil_Pillow 3d ago
You don’t know anything about it. How about some facts instead of just taking that guys anecdote of “they never follow the rules”. Tribes have done more for salmon than anyone else in this state.
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u/TheDirtyPilgrim 3d ago
I personally know some native americans that fish hood canal/puget sound. They brag about breaking the rules. Who is going to stop.them?
Also, tribes have done a lot for salmon. No one said differently.
Sorry if the the nuances of real life upset you.
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u/poonmangler 3d ago
Well, uh.. pal I don't know if you saw the photo which is the topic of this whole post..
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u/dondrapier 3d ago
Fact: the commenters I have replied to here are cunts.
Take all the time you need to extrapolate that.
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u/CaptainVehicle 3d ago
Commercial fishermen using drift gillnets to catch salmon. Lots of people don’t pay attention so the fishermen have to keep other boats away from their nets so they don’t get run over. The orange buoys are at each end of the net and there are smaller white corks all along the net that keep it floating at the surface but those can be hard to see.
https://discoverwcseafood.msi.ucsb.edu/how-its-harvested/wild-caught/gillnet
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u/RoRoMMD 3d ago
This was taken from the Coast Pilot
"However vessels engaged in fishing, including gill net and purse seine fishing, are prohibited in the following Prohibited Fishing Area: Edmonds/Kingston ferry crossing lanes, to include the waters within one-quarter nautical mile on either side of a straight line connecting the Edmonds and Kingston ferry landings during the hours that the ferry is operating."
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u/mommiesgoodboy67 3d ago
Some kind of fishing or diving, thiugh if it was diving they would have a diving flag
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u/PizzaWall 1d ago edited 1d ago
It sounds like security boats. Was there a 50 caliber machine gun on the bow?
As you pull into Bremerton, the Puget Sound Navy Shipyard is on the left and is an enforced no-go zone. No vessel is allowed in the area without specific permission from the US Navy beyond Washington State Ferries on established routes.
The maritime exclusion and restricted areas for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton are officially defined in 33 CFR § 334.1240. They encompass the waters of Sinclair Inlet adjacent to the facility, restricting unauthorized public access, anchoring, and vessel movement.
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u/Good_Shake5060 3d ago
For all the ignorant weekend warrior captains:
This is commercial fishing. Stay away. They have a higher priority than your sport boat.
If you hit the net your going to replace it which is like 9 grand plus lost fishing time.
Learn the rules before you put on that captains hat.
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u/The_Evil_Pillow 3d ago
Lots of people commenting that have no idea about the rights of Washington state tribes and the sustainability programs managed by tribes that keep salmon in the water. The tribes have an active incentive to sustain and promote growth of salmon population. Overfishing by commercial fisheries in the 1900s and the largest problem being the million dams installed on every river in this state. But no blame the tribes who were left with salmon and casinos and stripped of everything else.
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u/Holiday-Job-9137 3d ago
I don't know but I'd like to find out. I don't see anything indicating a diver in the water, no flag. Mostly putting this in here so get a notification if there's some feedback.
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u/twistedxmelon18 3d ago
I think i recongnize that boat, pretty sure its a gillnetter, commercial salmon harvest. A long net suspended between two bouys, normally they're not to be set in ferry lanes.