A dead fish is a dead fish. Really doesn't matter where it is killed or by whom, it's dead. Obviously, of we could magically close BC and AK we would have more fish here for the folks who actually pay to produce the fish to harvest.

But, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. So, the program that kept the escapement level allowed the harvest to continue but the fish also did not die out.

As to the ability of the habitat to produce fish it is my belief (based on the studies I have seen and done) that you need to put at least 1 and maybe 2 kilograms of spawner for each square metre of stream, as measured at summer low flow. For each species. The river can hold this..

I once did an exercise for Rivrguy and his folks that took the estimated habitat in the Chehalis basin and made suggested escapement goals for Spring and Fall Chinook, coho, and chum. I forget what the numbers were other than they were 10-20x what was done then, which was in the 90s or early 2000s, I think.