Tim,

From a biological perspective I'd only worry about anglers selectively killing large fish if the overall exploitation rate is high. The Hoh data I looked at shows small run sizes with a very small harvest rate. Because the total population is becomming small, there might be some cause for concern, but that pales to the concern I have for the population being chronically under-escaped.

I believe it's only a matter of time until all of WA requires wild steelhead release. Wild steelhead have been in defacto museum management mode for three decades in this state, but there's a general unwillingness to acknowledge the handwriting on the wall.

More important IMO is to establish a meaningful and realistic (comporting with productivity and capacity) spawning escapement goal and then actually manage for its attainment instead of below it. I have the same sympathy for the Hoh Tribe as I do any treaty tribe. I'm on board with the fishing as intrinsic to their culture, but circumstances change, and the Tribe's fishing needs to comport with the productivity of the river and the allocation specified in US v WA. I can't imagine a better life than living on the WA coast and extracting a living, especially one with ties through many, many generations. However, one inalienable fact of life is that life itself is uncertain. Any sense of entitlement, by a Hoh fisherman or anyone else, that because one once made a living doing a certain thing in a certain place that they should expect to be able to do so forever, is formed in ignorance. Respect for tradition is a good thing, but tradition isn't currency, nor can you eat it. I'm saying that if one can't make a living fishing, then it's time to learn another trade. The ancestors would understand. It's what they did down through the ages.

Sg