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For all intents and purposes, the Hump will bear the brunt of virtually all the GH chinook retention. The challenge will be how to craft an orderly chinook season that spreads the effort out over space and time. Think about creative ways to access these fish without having everyone and their dog show up for one brief and massive kill-fest. In years past when there were no other harvest opportunities for GH chinook prior to the mid-October Hump opener... the resulting crowds on opening day were downright ugly. And whenever the kill season was compressed to only two weeks, it stayed ugly every day of the season.

And remember, in the end, it's all about putting wild fish on the gravel.


An annual limit definitely helps spread the effort over space and time. The concept helps to spread the same harvestable number of fish over a greater diversity of users from the estuary all the way up to the upper reaches of the in-river fishing zone.

I believe a similar concept could be used to help move more wild coho through the Chehalis basin... especially to the lower river tribs that are chronically under-escaped.

(Hey Joe, I got a spare flame-resistant foil hat just for you buddy)




BTW annual limits have been something we tried to get at the very onset of the GH Committe meetings years ago. An effort to spread the salmon wealth amongst the full diversity of recreational users (estuary, mainstem, trib). We came in with the idea that if there were enough fish for one user group to harvest, then by golly there were enough for ALL to harvest. If there weren't, then no one should harvest. At the very lowest of harvestable run-sizes (Tier 2) the annual limit would be one. At a little bigger run-size, it would be two..... and so on.... until we got to a clearly harvestable run-size that the annual limits would no longer be needed for conservation and/or equitable sharing.

Under the previous directorship and Region 6 regime, the idea was DOA.

Maybe the time is right to float that boat for a second round?
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!