Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
Except that WDFW created the wild component. After more than a half century of managing Willapa Bay as a hatchery "wipe out" style fishery without regard to natural origin stocks, any lingering bit of the admittedly small natural Chinook population was long ago extirpated. I thought WDFW decided to manage for a wild Chinook population segment to ward off any potential review and listing of Willapa Chinook under the ESA. WB is a classic case study of FUBAR.


Sounds eerily similar to the conundrum with ESA-listed LCR tules

Without the constant infusion of hatchery-origin spawners on the gravel, the wild production would simply fizzle out. Hatchery origin-spawners are the parental source for the overwhelming majority of wild tules. Since the gravel is incapable of producing adult recruitment to even replacement levels, the continued existence of wild tules is almost entirely dependent on the presence of hatchery strays.
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!