I just have to interject a little something. It takes more than just the dams to decimate the fish populations. It takes more than just hatchery raised fish to affect them......probably the greatest factor in the decimation of the fish populations has been overharvesting. Even before the dams man was there taking more than was needed. Indiscriminantly overharvesting salmon runs. Over time as the runs diminished we just got better at it. If we want to make a difference we should cut back first and foremost on the amount we harvest. Then look at how much a river will support and what we can do to improve them.

Escapement is a theoretical science. It has never been supported by fact over a long term. We set escapement goals and when we do we are looking for a 'minimum escapement' then we open the fish up to harvest. Why not look for a 'maximum escapement' level and thus have a buffer for the years of drought, poor ocean quality etc? The reason is that if we had too many fish the price per lb would go down, egg harvest and prices would drop and during the lean times of reduced harvest less fish licenses would be sold to sport fishermen who did not want to take a chance on just a couple of fish and sport fishing would be hurt. So it really comes down to $$$. Not sense. ( Pun intended ) I am sure that everyone wants to see the fish runs improved. Until we start to make some decisions that allow more fish to get through to breed then we will continue to see small runs.

The use of the term 'we' is intended to refer to everyone....not just sportfishermen.