Aunty,
maybe I'll learn how to post properly one of these days--anyway.
An example of what can be done is Bristol Bay, Alaska. In the late 1960s and early 1970s sockeye runs there collapsed due to overfishing. The state implimented new management techniques that placed a strict priority on spawner escapement. No fishing was allowed until escapement was a certainty.
Escapement goals (# of salmon) were raised, in some river system to multiples of previous goals. Fishing fleets were moved from mixed stock intercept areas to terminal single river system stock areas. The results were immediate and dramatic. Before 1980 the runs were at and exceeded historic highs. There were harvests in excess of 40 million salmon. Spawning escapement remains a priority and the runs are healthy although not at historic highs due to ocean conditions. This happened prior to the high seas drift net fleets being completely forced off their traditional grounds.
Similiar mangement stategies have had similiar results throughout Alaska. All that was necessary for rebuilding the salmon runs was a pristine spawning envionrment a d sufficient #s of spawners.
Again, is that likely to happen in Wa.--NO.