Quote:
Lost in the intense debate that followed was what the court didn't say: It didn't say one hatchery fish is the equivalent of one wild fish or that a listing determination is a mere numbers game. The real question is not how many fish a hatchery can add but how it can, or cannot, contribute to the overall recovery of the total population, including naturally spawning fish.

NOAA Fisheries is developing a draft hatchery policy that will take into account all the effects of hatchery fish when it decides whether listing an entire group of Pacific salmon is warranted. If listing is warranted, all members will be listed.
This is clearly administrative double speak. What the heck did he exactly say?

It's not a numbers game? Well does that mean when there are no wild spawning salmon left that we no longer have a problem? Of course it's a numbers game!

The real question is not how many fish a hatchery can add? I'll agree here.... the real question is how many more wild fish the ecosystem will be made capable of producing... in other words, how much closer wild runs are getting to historic abundance.

The last sentence is the most disturbing. If a listing is warranted, then both wild and hatchery salmon will be protected. I can interpret that to mean only one thing.... more closures and the end of selective fisheries as we now know them.

This NOAA response makes no sense and does nothing to allay the fears of conservation-minded anglers throughout the PNW.
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"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!