When CCA succeeded in getting rid of the nets in Florida and other places, were they attacking the primary (over) harvester? You can take the nets (non-Indian) out of Washington, out of the Columbia and it will still only be a small part of the total harvest.

It is true that the fish being saved will be ones that were just about ready to spawn, because the GN fleet fishes on mature fish. But, for most of the Chinook nad probably much of the coho, the harvest is not local and not by nets.

The "good old days" of the 50s-70s were fisheries that were already on depleted runs. Getting back to the 50s is only partway. Back when Westport was booming what was going on in Tofino and Uculet? Was Oak Bay running all the charters they do now? Back at least in the 80s Canada was targetting US (read Washington and Oregon) coho in sport and troll fisheries in order to get a better US-Canada Treaty.

In the good old days there was a lot more fish production in tributaries that now are in the suburbs.

I hope we succeed in getting all fisheries to be selective. But until the habitat issues are also solved all it will do is transfer catch from a net to a hook.

And, getting back to the inital thread of Dino's position on fisheries in WA. Until we take iron-clad action to protect and restore habitat; and this will have to involve "locking up" land and water so that it can produce fish and other resources. Lacking that, we need to invest and heavily support a hatchery system if we want to have fish around.