OK gang thought I would chime in on some info on MSY and it's inefficientcies(sp). The information below is from a project I did regarding this nutrien recycling. It was taken from, I believe The Canadian Journal of Fisheries Sciences, and all the data here relates to the Skagit River. Their are three numbers for each species Current Goal using the MSY, actual fish numbers the last 25 yrs up to 1999, and the needed goal to obtain enough nutrients to satisfy all fish and bbirds along the river(note this does not include the forest and the flood plains down below).

OK so the numbers current goal for Chinook per year is 17,900, actual 14,870 and needed 121,600. For Coho Current Goal 30,000, actual 21,884, and needed 72,400. For Pinks, and this did not include this year, Current Goal 330,000, actual spawners 383,692, and needed spawners 500,000. Chum are slightly different between even and odd years because the amount of pinks in an odd year off sets the number of chum needed. But in an even year the goal for Chum is 117,800, the actual spawners has been 107,407, and the needed spawners is 178,500.

Obviously MSY does not work worth a darn. One other thing I remember reading in this article was that even when you add up the Harvest in the Saltchuck and the Ocean the amount of fish returning would not meet the needed goals. This is not as much about Seeding as it is about the joke of MSY.

My opinion on jump starting the seeding process is to take cautious steps but lets at least move forward before all we fertilize are empty streams.

NEN