The area 5&6 Chinook opening in July has a combined quota of 3,500 "landed" or harvested hatchery (fin clipped) Chinook. There is also inserted a bold new rule to leave the wild fish in the water until released. It is going to be up to the sports community to be good stewards of this opportunity and release the wild fish unharmed without netting them and bringing them into the boat. Serious enforcement will be on hand to make sure this experiment works.

As far as how released wild fish enter into the equation, there is a mortality percentage that WDFW uses to determine the impact of the fishery on the wild stocks. They are saying 20% of the fish that we catch and release will die. That does not mean that those fish will count against the quota of 3,500 but it does mean that a factor has already been included in their model when they decided on the length of the season, the area and the "quota".

As far as reporting goes WDFW has a new log that is available so we can keep an accurate record of the fish we catch and release and those we catch and keep. WDFW personnel have explained this to me and I like the idea. This log is available in tablet form so you can keep it on board and fill it out on every trip. You can keep it or hand it to the checker at the ramp and walk away without answering any questions. The goal of this is to get accurate numbers for released fish, not to penalize you or cut back your opportunities even more. On the contrary, it will lead to realistic mortality models and perhaps longer seasons. This is because they think, and I agree, that we all exaggerate the number of fish we release when salmon fishing. Think about it. I did when a WDFW employee explained it to me . He pointed out that when asked " did you release any fish?" "Yes"...."How many"?...Ohhhhhh I don't know ...12??? 15??? "You know there's alot of shakers out there".....Most likely we only really released 4 or 5 but we said 12...I think they are absolutely right. So why not keep a log? Check it out where you buy your license or online. Try it out. It might just be a good thing. The main thing is not to lie or falsify what you catch.

Remember that when crab catches were reported on a catch record card for the first time many complained but in the end it was discovered that the sports catch was much , much smaller than originaly thought based on the old way of determining the scope of the sports catch which was simply count the red and white buoys and multiply times a factor #.

Be honest and release wild fish in the water unharmed. You'll be glad you did.