Smalma, Smalma, Smalma -
First of all, I must say I enjoy your posts as they bring alot to the table, eventhough I do not agree where alot of your arguements lie...

I have to disagree with your assumption that WSR is being used as a magic bullet to cure our wild steelhead woes. As much as I wish that the WSR was the magic bullet to brining our wild steelhead runs back to their historical escapement numbers, I know that is not the truth. WSR is a relatively simple goal to achieve and will guarentee that more wild steelhead will reach the spawning beds.

The fight for the protection and ultimately, the survival of wild steelhead, is just begining and WSR is just a battle in the grand scheme of things...

Like Rich, I do not have a problem with a total statewide release on wild salmonids BUT is it neccasary?? Will it solve the problems?? I doubt it...

Eventhough I am not sure of the escapement goal and population trend of Snohomish River Pinks, I do not have a problem with the harvest of this species as from everything I read, this year's return was very far above the escapement goal BUT was the 4 or 6 fish limit or whatever it ended up at necassary?? Couldn't we just have left it at 2?

How many pink salmon ended up in the garbage because they were killed just because they could or how many ended up in the trash or eventually will because they were killed just for the eggs...??

When we have situations where it is fairly obvious that a wild population can sustain a harvest, should we not limit it and not promote unneccasary slaughter?

I must agree with you Smalma that the arguement lies where we want our harvest point to be...whether we want it so that we are harvesting for MSH or Carrying Capacity.

Cowlitzfisherman-
That is a pretty ignorany comment in regards to what makes it okay to kill a hatchery fish and not a wild fish. Maybe the Cowlitz doesn't have enough of a wild run on steelhead so that you can tell the differance between a man-raised fish and a nature-raised fish. I invite you to come fish the Sky or the Stilly next winter...we will fish in December for the brats and in Febuary for the nates and I can guarentee you will understand why the release of all wild steelhead is important.