As one of the folks involved in this "lobbying" I'd like to point out a few falsehoods in your paragraph. Looking back at the historical escapements the run on the Skagit/Sauk is close to the average of the records going back to 1978. So in addition to "The run is as low as it has ever been" it could also be said that it is as high as it's ever been. In fact the current numbers are higher than some of the years when killing wild fish was still legal. We lobbied WDFW not with just words, but with the science, their science to be exact. The system was not closed because of it's declining run. It was closed as part of an aggregate closure including all of Puget Sound and not on the merits of its own situation, Evidenced by NMFS approval of the RMP that re-opened it.

Yes, there is mortality associated with C&R fishing, and no one in their right mind is claiming otherwise. There is also mortality associated with road building, logging, diking, farming, ranching, cities, homes, septic systems, dams, etc. etc. So I guess anyone who benefits from any or all of these activities needs to quit being a hypocrite by calling the kettle black.

You used the phrase "recovered run". I've been asking for 9 years now for someone to describe exactly what that looks like. No one has. Would you like to take a shot at it?