From my perspective Region 6 has always been willing to provide information on salmon seasons. Mike and Kim have been rather forthright with models and information on that. Now ask a question on Wynoochee Mitigation or Steelhead not so much, in fact other than put your suggestions in to Olympia it is almost impossible to get anything on Steelhead. Most of my knowledge around closures comes from QIN folks and I am old and most of them have passed.

I have never been given a reason by WDFW why when numbers do not allow nonselective gillnet fisheries why selective rec fisheries are shut down. All I have is tribal fishers telling me years back “all fish or nobody fishes”. I do know that the QIN thoughts on hooking mortality are much different than WDFW. Net drop out rates for both NT and QIN are often not realistic especially for Chinook in the early fall with warm water and Sealions.

Late Coho are in bad shape in the Chehalis but true late Coho are late December and January. Over the years I have asked how many December and January Coho are taken by the QIN and was told each time that WDFW does not have that information. So why December was closed is a bit of a mystery for me especially when there are few Steelhead present.

The only consistent thing I have found is the use of the word conservation to validate the comanagers actions. When several years back I objected Kelly Cunningham responded that relations between the comanagers more or less was peachy! Frankly, my view is that this style of management has been institutionalized and both the comanagers are in denial.