Doc I think the key item to express here is how many viable wild spawners are put on the gravel with the use of selective gear. Both methods allow fish to escape and put some wild spawners on the gravel. Which method results in the majority of fish actually spawning?

One of the best points I thought you made was the impact gillnets have on ESA fish that are released and due to net damage never spawn.

I'm admittantly no fisheries expert but I see some things that need clearing up in my mind. If the fish released out of gillnets have a certain mortality rate yet the majority cannot spawn because of infection, exc, wouldn't that drastically increase the actual mortality of the nets? (well maybe not actual mortality but spawner viability) Those fish are technically released but never counted in the impact numbers, yet they still cannot spawn (by in large).

If those same fish are caught and released using selective gear and now have minimal damage, they can actually do what it is Mother Nature intended. That's where I don't understand Todd's argument about the switch not having any benefit for wild springers.

Todd, I understand you will say that the selective gear will allow the commies to go through more fish this way regardless and the end result will be the same amount of dead springers. But I still go back to catch balancing. If the tribes burn through their 13% because they kill everything they encounter, just how many more will the commies get before they hit their measly 2%?

In the end it seems to me that you would end up with a large amount of viable spawners in the non-mortality column not damaged by gillnets. Whereas with the gillnets,....well not so much.