Quoting Todd.....Oh, yeah, anyone who truly believes that either there are no wild fish, or that hatchery fish spawning in the wild is in any way good, then they are completely ignorant of the ALL the current scientific data whose results are directly contrary to those beliefs.
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And said with enthusiasm! Todd, I dare say, if spawning hatchery fish are not "in any way good" then WTF are we doing raising them outside of pens? Perhaps some study is needed to learn a practical way to sterilize them? Or dye them with luminous dye so they can be killed more easily? Get serious. Hatchery fish have caused much discussion and hypothesizing about gene pool deterioration, etc., etc., etc. But they are still here swimming about the oceans and returning as weighty and healthy as their wild counterparts, and regardless of arguments, I'm not convinced that anyone can tell the difference between one and the other prior to landing it. If you think you can.....try it. Go ahead and verbalize your guess to a buddy and see how you do. In a mix of hatchery fish and wild fish, you will not be able to tell one from the other.....guaranteed. Don't get me wrong....I don't kill natives, but I regard the hatchery fish/wild fish controversy as highly over dramatized. It's kind of like the 12.5% buffer over escapement.....now there's a number.....12.5%....oooooeeeeee. Or halibut allotments to the pound...UH HUH

All I'm saying, is that if WDFW wants to be respected, then common sense and reality need to come together....and perhaps a rewording of the term "best available science" into "estimated" is in order.
Flame ON!