Fro those that are interested in some numbers/data a visit to the following site -

http://www1.co.snohomish.wa.us/Departmen...ecoveryplan.htm

If you click on appendix C you'll find the escapement data base for both the North and South Fork Chinook stocks.

Some low points -
The South Fork stock has been hovering below 400 spawners a year since the start of the data base - 1974!

It was mentioned that there all ready is a brood stock program with the North Fork population. That program with a release goal of 200,000 smolts has been in effect for 25 years with minimal improvements in wild returns. Again from appendix C you'll see that since that program started roughly 1/3 to 1/2 of the spawners are from that program.

One of the positives of the NF brood stock has been the ability to CWT tag the released fish and get good info on where the catches are occurring. In the last decade the harvest rates on the NF stock has been reduced by roughly 50% to about a 25% level.

The combination of the portion of hatchery spawners on the spawning grounds More than1/3) and the fishing rates (less than 1/3) would indicate that the spawning population (hatchery plus wild) is not or just barely replacing itself. While it may that the hatchery spawners are not as productive as the naturally produced fish most of the available data indicates that both the capacity and productivty of the basin's habitat is so degraded that current North Fork escapements are near carrying capacity.

The latest CWT data that I have seen indicate that the distribution of that catch (25% of the total run) was -
Alaska - 26.7%
B. C. - 46.3%
Wa troll - 0.5%
PS net - 2.8%
Wa sport - 23.8%

By the way those Alaska catches come from SE Alaska not the Berring Sea.

I agree with some of the others that major problem facing the Stillaguamish Chinook is lack of productive habitat. And yes I agree with FishKisser that the excessive sediment problems that drive much of the production limitations will not improve in any large measure given current land management activities and time soon.

Latest year the Stillaguamish Chinook was the stock that limited the Puget Sound fisheries. The situation is likely to be a chronic issue and the status of the Sitllaguamish stocks will likely limit recreational fishing opportunities in Puget Sound for years.

Tight lines
Curt