Which agency is officially charged with determining the escapement goals for each salmonid stock in each of the state's major salmonid-producing rivers? How is this figure determined for each system ( and no I am not talking about a dissertation on the Ricker curve and MSY... numerous previous posts have made it clear that the resource must be managed for MSY) and how often is it required to be re-evaluated? I believe this number is a moving target and depends on the quality of the habitat and it's carrying capacity, which also changes over time (sadly, for the worse most of the time).

MSY was born in an age where the "yield" or intrinsic value extracted from the resource was measured strictly in numbers of dead fish brought to market. This antiquated concept of MSY becomes meaningless when you no longer have to kill the fish to extract value (an angler's idea of "yield") from a commonly held public resource. In the case of wild steelhead, that yield is maximized by allowing more fish to swim up the river.

Here's another question. Why is this escapement number a single target rather than a range of escapements that would be capable of producing MSY? A singular escapement goal gives fish managers little or no wiggle room for error in case of a shortfall in the projected return. On the flip side, it also doesn't give them much room for error in underharvesting a strong return. Why not determine what this "escapement range" is for each system, then manage for its midpoint... ie set the seasons and tribal harvest based on current year run projections to achieve that midpoint escapement.

A target "escapement range" would help to minimize issues of under- or over-harvest, and also help to address this goofy "forgone opportunity" allocation problem. If the state were to go to total WSR, there would be no forgone opportunity as long as the actual escapement did not exceed the upper limit of the range deemed capable of producing MSY.


Salmo g, CFM, S malma, Grandpa, Rob Allen.... this one is right up your collective alleys.