I generally refrain from commenting on these issues but this one is different.

I agree that this proposal makes no sense, however, there is a bigger point. That is, by advocating a three-fold increase in the mortality of wild steelhead, both WDFW and ODFW have lost the moral authority to compel other folks (e.g., BPA) to conserve steelhead as well.

If the State agencies can advocate for a increase in steelhead mortality, why not BPA, or PacifiCorps, or the Army Corps of Engineers, etc, etc? How about a three-fold increase in mortality at the dams?

Even worse, how can WDFW/ODFW even suggest these other agencies reduce their impacts thru spill and flow augmentation? They can't since, it appears, that they're not interested in salmon recovery either. Their duplicity is their undoing. Their moral authority is lost. Their credibility is crumbling.

And for what? This issue is as baffling as it is infuriating.

I can't believe that we have to rely on the Federal bureaucrats at NOAA to protect the steelhead from our own State fish and wildlife agencies.