KORE,

I have asked the same question many times. I finally went into the regional office in montesano and talked to one of their steelhead guys I can't remember his name.

I explained that it doesn't make sense to release the numbers halfway through the winter season when they become useless as most hatchery runs are early runs.

He explained that they often didn't get firm numbers until the october/november time frame. Then, they have to compile the numbers and get them printed etc.... This is hard for me to fathom since the smolts were planted 2 YEARS previously. This is pretty simple data and should be available by at least september/october so there is a month or two to plan.

I will say that the biologist was open and helpful and even went to his computer to print off the most up to date numbers for me before they were made available to the public.

[ 11-07-2001: Message edited by: Eric ]