Using this year as an example only, no the one fish limit does not get the reduction in harvest required thus we had the two week shut down. In normal years the Sept 15 to Oct. 1 shut down window affects the fisheries from tide water down and upstream and tribs not so much. Choose the last two weeks of Oct. and the tribs and inland fisheries take the biggest hit.

In the Chehalis Basin fish movement is not a right up the river thing but rather fish entering the system from Sept on and gradually working their way upstream until Nov. spawning time. In a normal year the inland fisheries see little opportunity until after Oct. 15. Tide water is the opposite as mid to late Oct. & Nov. rains pretty much end quality fishing.

My thoughts are simple, any harvest restrictions should be shared by fishers from the lower reaches to the upper reaches. Using the Sept. window in most years penalizes the lower reach fishers as would a later window penalize the trib and up river fishers. We need a better way to do things and that is why a conversation on this subject is helpful.

As to the ocean fisheries WDFW has always prioritized marine over terminal fisheries and the Coho taken in WA waters by non treaty fishers count against our half in terminal fisheries. It is a hit but not totally unreasonable, now Chinook that is another thing all together. AK & BC were modeled to take 13,646 Grays Harbor Chinook ( H & W combined ) with a few hundred taken in WA marine fisheries. This left a terminal run size of 13,333. That is why we will never have a keep Chinook fishery in Grays Harbor.