SUNDAY, 06.28.2015
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EVERETT, WASHINGTON
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WWW.HERALDNET.COM
Deal on budget lacks details
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$1.50 (HIGHER IN OUTLYING AREAS)
The geoduck
a clam most
GENEROUS
Inslee, lawmakers claim there’s an agreement deal but won’t elaborate. By Jerry Cornfield Herald Writer
OLYMPIA — State lawmakers concluded a second special session Saturday as their leaders claimed they had reached agreement on a new two-year budget. But House and Senate leaders, and Gov. Jay Inslee, refused to disclose any details. They insisted it would be passed and signed before midnight Tuesday to avert a partial state government shut down. Inslee has called a third extra session beginning at noon on Sunday to give lawmakers time to get all the horse-trading and numbers worked out. At a news conference on Saturday, Inslee said the agreement will deliver a “truly historic” budget, even as he swatted away question after questions about its content. Inslee said he’s holding back because budget writers in the House and Senate are going line by line through hundreds of spending decisions that will affect the final tally sheet. That work could be done in time for both chambers of the Legislature to vote Monday. What the governor’s office did hand out was a one-page summary which said the budget would
With Hat Island in the distance, Tulalip diver Jesus Madrigal prepares to submerge during a morning of commercial geoduck harvesting near the Clinton ferry landing off Whidbey Island on May 27. Top: Deck hand Mitch Zackuse sorts through geoduck harvested from the Puget Sound aboard the Melissa Anne fishing boat the same day.
It’s dangerous to harvest and tricky to manage, but for the Tulalips, this beefy bivalve is big business
See BUDGET, Page A7
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . .E3 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . .D6 Dear Abby. . . . . . . . . . . . . .D6 Horoscope . . . . . . . . . . . . .D6
Story and photos by Ian Terry
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Herald Photographer
Obituaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . .B5
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LINTON — The sound of labored breathing crackles over the radio aboard the fishing boat Rawdeal on an overcast morning in late May. Anchored about 100 yards off the eastern coastline of Whidbey Island, within sight of the Clinton ferry landing, the crew on the 26-foot aluminum fishing boat is after geoduck. The giant clams, which grow wild in the Pacific Northwest, are poundfor-pound the most-valuable seafood being harvested from Puget Sound today.
“I just can’t equalize,” diver Jesus Madrigal, a member of the Tulalip Tribes, tells skipper Dennis Hegnes, the boat’s owner. In SCUBA speak, this means Madrigal’s ears aren’t adjusting to the change in pressure as he descends. Madrigal is 30 feet below the surface, in murky water that is barely 50 degrees. He is connected to the boat by an air-supply hose and communication cable. The sharp pain in his ears is typically remedied by a trip back up, but that takes time — something the fishermen don’t have.
Time is money in all types of commercial fishing, but that’s particularly true in the geoduck fishery. One reason is the huge market demand in China for the big bivalves. The other is how the Tulalip Tribes manage their divers, restricting harvest to just a few hours at a time as part of a strategy to keep the fishery sustainable. Twenty years ago, the commercial geoduck industry was something people at Tulalip had just begun to explore. Now, it’s a $2 million-a-year business See GEODUCK, Page A6
Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A9 Viewpoints . . . . . . . . . . . . .B7
BREW TALK
FLY THE CLEANER SKIES
RE-INVENTING CAMP
Aficionados host podcast about regional beers. Good Life, D1
Airliner makers are trying new ways to get greener. Viewpoints, B7
This summer experience lets kids create cool stuff. Local, B1
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