I think GH and WB exemplifies the concept of "take the money and spend it," without regard to the constituents who fund it.

I feel kinda' bad for the NT gillnetters because the reality is that their day in the sun is long behind them. I suspect that they know it. There are no wild Chinook to net and too few wild coho. If it weren't for hatchery Chinook and coho, there would be no NT gillnetting at all. I can't help but think it's long past time to be keeping this welfare fishing on hatchery salmon still going. It's analogous to raising hatchery buffalo to keep the buffalo hunters of yore employed when there are no longer enough wild buffalo.

The QIN has adopted the policy that hatchery and wild salmon and steelhead be treated the same in harvest management even though they know full well that they are different. So as long as hatchery and wild fish are co-mingled in QIN U&A, wild escapement goals will only occur by coincidence.

Since there is seldom any harvestable wild Chinook in GH any more, I can't help but wonder why WDFW spends our tax dollars raising GH hatchery Chinook to be caught mainly in Canada, with very few accruing to NT recreational fishing in WA. Stop raising hatchery Chinook in GH.

The way to get Humptulips wild coho to make escapement is to stop raising hatchery coho at Stevens Creek hatchery. The Humptulips, like the rest of GH tributaries, is as good of natural coho habitat as still exists anywhere in WA. We should be taking advantage of that and maximizing wild coho production in the basin, and only augmenting natural production with hatchery coho.

Similar in WB. WB never was, and never will be a significant producer of wild Chinook. If it makes sense to raise hatchery Chinook in WB at all, it makes sense to do so at Forks Ck on the Willapa River. Stop raising hatchery Chinook at Nemah and Naselle. WB by nature is a coho and chum factory, so why not manage it for what it's best suited for? Save a lot of taxpayer dollars at the same time. Raise only enough hatchery coho so as to augment natural coho production.

Doing these things would provide some consistent recreational salmon fishing but would not support NT gillnetting. Sorry NT gillnetters, but it's beyond time to take up a 21st century occupation, or hobby job, since gillnetting hasn't amounted to full time employment in many decades.

As for QIN, it would suck to have to manage wild salmon populations to try to produce harvestable surpluses, but that's life. There are no guarantees, and taxpayers don't owe treaty tribes guaranteed harvestable salmon runs.