Basically Kev, what this boils down to was we missed our bottom number by 1200 fish. IF the sporties had let a greater share of those go AND if the tribe had even cut back a day or two a week ... we would have met it.

It didn't take millions of dollars to replace a culvert or study the sunlight intrusion on the summer waters ... let 'em get on the gravel and let Ma Nature do the rest.

I have one more question for you since you seemed to quickly point the finger for last year to marine survival ... why was survival so string on the Snider brood fish???

Before you try to say that they competed with the wild fish, remember that the Dickey, Bogachiel, and Calawah do not good brood plants, so they did not create any competition with their wild brethren.

Timing is also more stringent on these fish as when "they want to go" rather than a state-mandated date so their time in the river is likely more limited to create any issues there. In addition, the available forage in that time frame is way beyond plenty.

Funny that this latest downturn and utter failure last year follows the increase in net effort at the mouth in the brood years for these returns???

All the more reason for us to do our part ...