Originally Posted By: Smalma

Sorry but all this ranting about factors other than those directly afftecting the freshwater survival of the young fish or the marine survival of the smolts is in my opinion diverting attention from where the discussion needs to be if there is to be constructive actions for improvement of the resource status.

While there may be exceptions most familar with the habitat situations on most Puget Sound Rivers (fsih biologists, habitat biologists, ecologist, etc) agree that there major problems in that arena. Teh net result is that two of the major VSP facotrs that the feds talk about are lacking - capacity and productivity.

Tight lines
Curt


In this particular case I think it's germaine as it's describing why and how the HC rivers are different than PS rivers. Our PS stocks are definately on the decline (and as far as I know HC rivers are included in the threatened status), but aren't where the HC rivers are currently at. Knowing a bit about how we got there will probably help come up with a more comprehensive solution overall.

I will agree though, the long term viability of our steelhead is purely based on having good habitat available, and that really should be a major portion of the focus for urban rivers systems.