Ramon -
I prefer to be quoted accurately; In regard to the Stillaguamish I said "the latest information seems to indicate that the quality of freshwater habitats have declined to such a degree that it is no longer capable of supporting the populations of even 25 years ago." In the 1970s the then Department of Fisheries established an escapement goal for Stillaguamish chinook of 2,000 adutls. It was thought that this was an approximation of the MSY level. As you know MSY is below the capacity or equilbrium abundance level. As I recall an EDT (ecosystem diagnostic treatment) analysis of the North Fork Stillaguamish chinook habitat estimated that the historical equilibruim abundance at about 24,000 adults. The same analysis estimate the equilibruim abundance of the North Fork under current conditions (late 1990s) with no fishing to be about 1,400; a more than 10 fold reduction! The combined equilbiruim abundance estimate for the entire basin was little more than 2,000 or about the esitmate of MSY 25 years ago.

A note regarding the development of the recovery expliotation rates (RERs) in the RMP. In all the modeling it was assumed that marine survivals would be in the low range. Chinook stocks would be much more productive under normal or above average survival conditions. The RERs that were developed were often only had about 1/2 the expliotation that would occur at MSY. This means even when harvest imapcts reach the maximum level under the plan substantial productive potential has been reserved to take advantage of additional available habitat or that habitat create from restoration efforts.

I purposely avoid hatchery issues as this has been a discussion of harvest issues.

Is the RMP a prefect document? - of course not.
Can it be improved? - certainly.
With our collective inputs during the EIS review process and the inclusion of new information collected of the next year hopefully a plan can be developed and adopted that help assure wild chinook in the future while allow appropriate access to other salmon stocks.

Finally, while it is generally know who I am and what I do for a living I have chosen to post as a private individual under the pseudonym of Smalma. After nearly 100 posts (this is # 97) in less than a year my "biases and agenda" should be transparent to most. I hope to continue to provide postings with inputs and insights on fish biology, fish behavior, and fishery management issues. My avocation continues to be the conservation of the wild fish resource.

Tight lines
Smalma