Fish Monger,

A primary effect of this program, and the rest of the anadromous fish reintroduction and restoration programs, is that Tacoma is allowed to deduct natural salmon and steelhead production from their hatchery mitigation requirements. For example, if an average of 300 wild, or natural production, steelhead returned over the next 5 years, Tacoma is allowed to deduct from their hatchery smolt production that number of smolts estimated to be required to return 300 adult steelhead.

The basic idea is that Tacoma has an obligation to mitigate its project effects on fisheries. For the past 30 years they have done all their mitigation through hatchery production. For the new license period, it will be a combination of hatchery and natural production.

If you're interested in more detailed information, you should really look up the license settlement agreement on Tacoma Power's website.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.