Originally Posted By: Salmo g.
C'man, yes wild Stilly Chinook are functionally extinct. As one of those Pollyanna optimists I'm not ready to throw in the towel. First, let me say, they are awesome Chinook, on parr with Skagit summer Chinook, just far less numerous. I want to try to preserve the stock with aggressive conservation hatchery measures, up to and including captive broodstock. I think it's worth a try. If it fails, then we can move on, confident we did all that was humanly possible in our time.



Meanwhile back at the RMP....Stilly is not only problematic at constraining to 22% for wild fish in all fisheries, but at low hatchery forecasts, the RMP has an additional constraint kicking on the hatchery fish in SO. US fisheries. Currently the hatchery fish are ad clipped and tagged as part of a PSC ER monitoring program. Since the hatchery fish are ad clipped they become the "target" in MSFs and consequently MSFs become the bad guy and not a way of protecting fish from exploitation. Not a sunny future on several fronts.