Keta,

It's kinda complicated. SCL is responsible for fish protection in the Skagit upstream of Rockport. If they had released water to protect fish in the middle river it would have jeopardized their ability to maintain upper river protection by running out of water like the Baker did. For what it's worth, the upper river produces a lot more chinook than the middle river. It is a trade off, with the goal being to maximize overall survival.

The chums spawned heavily in the middle river, so they really took a hit. Very sad. Yeah, the tribes' harvest rate was high, considering that in hindsight it should have been zero. But they didn't know that when they began their season.

Sonar doesn't work so well as a fish run size counter in our rivers due to the large debris load in the rivers. I'm told they use it in Alaskan rivers that run pretty clean, so they get a clean signal off the fish. At the present time the only alternative to run size forecasting methods is using a more conservative margin. Naw, 'tain't likely.

It is amazing to see the river so low. Make lots of notes.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.