Ah yes, if only we don't fish on Stillaguamish Chinook, surely they will recover, right? NO. The environmental conditions Smalma alludes to with respect to Stillaguamish River flooding means that the Stilly Chinook population has a near zero chance of recovering to a self-sustaining abundance level in the next 100 years. (Self-sustaining meaning that spawners at least replace themselves, with recruits per spawner equaling or exceeding 1.0.)

I expect that the Stillaguamish River will continue to be closed to recreational fishing from Feb. 1 through Sept. 15 for the next 100 years, or longer. And the associated Marine fishing areas 7 & 9 will have very few days open to recreational fishing for the next 100 years, or longer. WDFW knows this too; they just don't want to admit that they have no plan to increase recreational fishing opportunity. WDFW is reactionary. If other Chinook populations become as imperiled as the Stilly stock, we can expect similar reductions in fishing opportunity in other Marine and River fishing areas. This is the default future of salmon (and steelhead) angling that WDFW has planned for us.