Rich & Headhunter,

Not that he requires any defense by me, but I’ve known Smalma for over 25 years, and I can vouch that he does indeed know a darned thing - and then some.

In this case, what Smalma is trying to do is help FNP by clarifying the meanings of MSY and MSR. FNP has the concept almost correct, but is off a bit. Although it often looks to us like MSY management is seeking lower and lower escapements, that is not the case. MSY simply sets the escapement goal at the level that produces the highest “sustainable” harvest. I put sustainable in quotes because that is part of the problem with it. As other variables change, MSY typically results in too high harvest rates, which in turn result in underescapement. However, it is the declining productivity and capacity of habitat that drives escapement goals downward. And that would happen under MSY, MSR, or an alternative between the two.

Further, MSR can only occur at slightly less than maximum abundance, as Smalma explained, because you have to allow some proportion of fish to be lost to the inevitable hooking and handling mortality associated with maximizing recreation.

H2O,

Carrying capacity isn’t a theory. Actual measurements of habitat can be made, and using the known productivity of similar habitats that have been measured, carrying capacity of the habitat in question can be estimated. However, I always expect estimates to be off by some amount, so I like to have a follow-up assessment of productivity to see how close it comes to the estimate. By that measure, the process of estimating both productivity and capacity are improved over time.

Lupo,

Fish management agencies serve a diverse constituency. Historically, the constituent pressure has been for sustaining high harvests. As the constituents have become more diverse, there has been an increasing pressure for improved conservation and preservation of fish stocks. If you think WDFW isn’t conservation oriented today, you really don’t know what it was like in the 60s or early 70s. Institutional change comes slowly, particularly when the legislative direction hasn’t really changed to account for what we know about fish resources today.

I’m biased, and I contend that NOAA doesn’t make up science for George. However, George is not allowing vacancies to be filled, which can be read as transferring the money to the war effort, or as limiting NOAA’s ability to generate the best available science where there are controversies about science, or it might be some other reason . . .

Linebacker,

MSR doesn’t work for treaty tribes whose interest is in commercial fishing. The philosophies are almost diametrically opposed, and the management strategies and methods conflict. There could be compromises made between them, but only if the parties, or the court, supported doing so.

Gary,

The Raging River would have small escapements of fish under either MSY or MSR or something in between because the productivity, and most likely the capacity as well, are severely reduced from what they were in, say, 1850.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.