I asked the same question shortly after the skagit flood this year. I was just sick to think that the kings that were starting to show up in better numbers got wiped out during the flood. I thought it would be a great idea to take just a few wild fish and hatch then release the fry in one of the small streams/rivers that run into the skagit. it would be just a boost to the wild fish and the smaller streams are affected less by the floods. some of the streams have king returns and some dont from my observations. the kings are only my example but if the levels got up to the point of not needing hatcherys it would be great.....part of this observation comes from growing up in norther Michigan. in 1962 washington traded lake trout (called Mackinaw here) for kings, they did not open hatcherys for salmon they just released fry into every creek/stream/river that had water they now have great salmon runs and dont put one dime into salmon recovery. off course the indians dont net salmon in the great lakes they net whitefish and lake trout....when I posted it I had a mix of opinions for and against the broodstock program. I still cant quite grasp how a wild fish smolt hatched and released within the shortest possible time from in or near its parent river would be a hatchery fish....DJ