Makes one wonder how far the billions we're spending on culvert replacements that are being set up to fail at producing more fish, plus what it cost to fight the lawsuit, might have gone toward that payout.

Now, we'll spend that money, get marginal results (if any), and end up with a multi-billion dollar payout on top of it.

Curtailing open ocean harvest, even modestly, would instantly provide more fish for the Tribes. That's the only thing that will get results at this stage of the game. It would also leave more fish to seed the habitat we're trying to recover, at which point our current "investment" might make a difference. Short of that, the citizens of WA can only look forward to being sued into oblivion.