Rapido101,
As Dizane mentioned, the disagreement wasn't about conservation. NOF is all about killing salmon, and who gets to kill how many, while paying the highest quality lip service to the conservation needs of the species. The WDFW - tribal disagreement came down to 8 (eight) wild Puyallup River Chinook that are wild in name only, in that they are NORs (natural origin recruits) that are the product of Green River hatchery Chinook (that have been used in the Puyallup hatchery system since the Puyallup has had a hatchery system) that stray and spawn naturally in the Puyallup River basin. So the wild Chinook at the source of the disagreement are fake and in no way are they wild Chinook native to the Puyallup basin. Want 8 more "wild Chinook" spawners in the Puyallup? Easy, let 8 more hatchery fish stray into the natural spawning environment.
There is no attempt being made at actual Chinook recovery in the Puyallup - that would be actual conservation work. Instead, under the PS ESA Chinook recovery plan, the purpose is to maintain as high a harvest rate as possible on Puyallup Chinook while achieving the artificially created escapement goal for wild Chinook that are neither wild nor native.
From what I read about the protest demonstrations, racism and bigotry weren't the point. The point was that one group - treaty fishermen - were allowed to fish under a very specious, sorta' permit, while non-treaty fishermen were allowed no such option. The reason that situation looks bad is because it is bad. It doesn't take racism to point that out.
Sg