A key point to remember is that there is ZERO mention of increasing escapement goals anywhere in the basin as a result of this "mitigation." That proves, without question, that WDFW intends for whatever additional, returning fish that come from this to be harvested. We all know who's most efficient at harvesting, and it's not in-river sport fishers. These fish are, first and foremost, intended to increase opportunity in the ocean (for recs and commercials). Next at the table will be the Tribes. QIN and the NT gillnetters will get a few additional gillnet days in 2A-2D.
I'll concede that it makes sense to produce the smolts at Bingham if the capacity already exists. What doesn't pass the sniff test is releasing 80% of them in the Satsop under a guise of "Wynoochee mitigation." That's the part that is most curious. Assuming as much as 10-15% of those Satsop plants will be managed to return to the Satsop (just basing that on how the basin is managed overall), it will lead to a "surplus" of harvestable hatchery fish bound for the Satsop (and, conveniently, piling up below the mouth of the Satsop until the water gets high/cold enough to get them moving). That leads me to believe there is a new stakeholder in the mix (the Skoks, who will presumably be gillnetting on the Brady flats and absolutely hammering the early run). It's the only thing that makes any sense to me. I hope I'm wrong.