Originally Posted By: Carcassman
Salmo, I suspect that the Chinook are produced for two purposes. One is to give QIN fish to catch. The other is to put marked fish into the ocean. For the NI netters, the Chinook are probably targeted as bycatch which allows the "surplus" to be taken in (probably) the coho fishery.

I agree that WA needs but one commercial fishery and that would be tribal. It would also be an improvement since the tribal fisheries tend to be terminal or extreme terminal. And, WDFW certainly does not need to be producing many of the stocks they raise. But, since Boldt II guaranteed dead fish in the boat are the continued hatchery programs there to keep the state out of court and continuing rampant development? And oil spills in teh Swinomish Channel??


C'man,

Boldt (fed. judge in fed. court) may have guaranteed tribes fish to catch, but that same federal gov't promulgated the treaties for the purpose of white settlement and development. If there must be fish for treaty fishing, let the feds produce them. I'm not convinced that WA taxpayers are obligated to produce hatchery fish for treaty fisheries. I don't think that's been litigated.

And none of that begins to touch the reduced ocean survival, which is the over-riding and proximate factor causing drastically reduced productivity. Neither Boldt nor any part of the fed. gov't. could have anticipated this eventuality.