Grandpa,surecatch
The bald eagle analogy is oversimplified and idiotic unless you talking about dilluting the bald eagle gene pool with millions on genetically identical clones year after year for decades...then it makes sence. IMO it's not the hatcheries that are problematic its the hatchery practices. And who is willing to say that if we stopped harvesting salmon and herring for a cycle or two that they would not come back 10 fold. Look what happened when canada stopped taking 500,000 coho off the west side of Vancouver Island. We had the best coho returns in decades. Yes there are lots of reasons the runs have declined, but as sport fishers we need to stop pointing the finger and realize that any wild fish that lives to spawn helps the resource. There are plenty of Special interests blaming each other for this decline. Certianly they all contribute to the problem including WDFW hatcheries. IMO, like John Carlson, some of these problems are more easily addressed than others. GET THE #@%$ING NETS OUT OF THE RIVERS NOW! This would be the lowest cost to our society and have the biggest positive impact on the resource. Wild puget sound kings are being gillnetted each year, and we, the taxpayers, are paying billions to try to save them.
End of Rant