If you eliminate the general commercial fishery, how do you keep congress from defunding the columbia river hatcheries? The main motivation for creating them in the first place was to provide mitigation for the dams, in support of the commercial fisheries. Congress is going to have some tough choices in the coming years, due to the deficits. If the fish are just there for recreational purposes, there is going to be alot of pressure to eliminate the expenditure. Don't waste time hollering at me about the benefit of a sport caught fish, I know the arguments.

The point is, since the fish we are trying to catch are hatchery fish, we should remember that in at least one sense, the commercials are, or should be, our allies.