Rivrguy -
While historically there were a lot of Puget Sound coho caught in the more northern waters (mostly in BC waters in the West coast of Vancouver fisheries) those catches have been greatly reduced and has been so for at least a decade. That west coast Vancouver Island fishery used to take 1 to 1.7 million coho, in recent years that catch has consistently been less than 50,000. Teh reason for that reduction was not so much a concern of Washington stocks, rather it was the collapse of a number of BC stocks.

What is scary is that even with that catch reduction we have not seen all that much of an increase in returns to the Puget Sound. This of course is largely an issue of decreased marine survival (yes that issue again). During the 1970s and 1980s the average smolt to survival for such coho stocks as Wallace coho was about 15% (and at times reach as high as 25%). Now it is only about 1/3 of that rate.

With that poor marine survival it is a little surprising that those north Sound and Hood Canal rivers that are managed for wild coho are doing as well as they are.

SBD -
While there is no defending hatchery management zone management common in south sound (and elsewhere) Puget Sound wild coho compared to other areas are doing pretty well (of course the others are mostly ESA listed). If you look at PFMC's 2010 coho forecasts the PS expected natural coho forecasts is nearly 300,000. This compares favorably to other areas - twice the expected returns to the Oregon or Washington coasts and nearly 20 times the expected natural returns to the lower Columbia.

When the status of PS coho was last reviewed by NOAA fisheries there were a lot of unanswered questions and concerns about thosse hatchery management zones. However that review resulted in just a finding that PS coho were a species of concern. While the situation with PS coho remains very much a mixed bag it seems to me that there has been some improvement with the wild coho. In additional to the north Sound and Hood Canal stocks as noted by Salmo g. there has been improvement in the White river and wild coho numbers in the Cedar are improving. The Cedar coho that are getting above Landsburg are roughly doubling every generation (remember they were excluded from that habitat for century but seem to be successfully re-colonizing that habitat).

Somehow I doubt that this petitioning effort will result in another ESA listing but wouldn't it be nice if it does provide that needed lever to address those distasteful hatchery management zones. I suspect it could be much like some of those South Sound Chinook where the "native" stocks are gone but wild populations developing from the hatchery stocks. Of course a major management actionn in that direction would be wild coho release in virtually all of the Puget Sound/Straits salmon fisheries - have to wonder how much support there really is for such a move.

Tight lines
Curt