Beezer,

People often confuse conservation with preservation. They are different. Preservation means to maintain a resource with zero allocation to human use, except possibly viewing like at the zoo or in a national park. Conservation has long been defined (coined by Gifford Pinchot I think) as the "wise use" of natural resources, so most natural resource managers intend that conservation will preserve enough abundance that some of the resource can be allocated to human use. "Wise use" implies that the resource is allocated with priority to the "highest and best" use. Highest and best use has generally been interpreted as that use which yields the greatest social and economic benefit. Recreational fishing yields more social (hours of recreation per fish) and economic ($ per fish) benefit than commercial fishing for the fish species being discussed (salmon and steelhead). This logic path concludes that allocating fish for recreational priority over commercial harvest is entirely consistent with the commonly understood principles of conservation.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.