With the small number of hatchery chinook planted in the Chehalis system I have to wonder if this somehow justifies having a NI gillnet fishery on the Chehalis. With those numbers it sure isn't benefitting the rec fishery much.

With about 1200 hatchery Chinook, that's a pathetic justification for a NT gillnet fishery. WDFW is pissing taxpayer's money down a rathole to maintain a "fishery" that defies justification.

We don't need a NT gillnet fishery. It hurts taxpayers. It hurts wild Chinook. It doesn't provide enough recreational fishing to justify the cost. So what if the Indians are the only ones using gillnets? The tribes are gonna' do their thing no matter what, and they have had the court of public opinion on their side for years, so it's not like they'd be risking anything.

If WDFW was interested in ecosystem management of the Grays Harbor basin, they would manage it for what it is best suited for under contemporary environmental conditions. I think that would be wild coho, chum salmon, cutthroat trout, and some steelhead. A few wild Chinook will likely persist because it's difficult to wipe out a fish species entirely. But if WDFW continues with NT gillnet fishing in the Harbor, they just might succeed.

WDFW sucks Butt.
They are a pathetic government agency sucking the life out of "Our" resources.
Netting fish in this day and age is ridiculous.