Hey Salmo g, after reading your post, a lightbulb just went on in my head.

Since the reigning fish czar(s) have deemed a 15% exploitation rate consistent with recovery... or at least preventing extinction.... any fishing method that had a true release mortaility of 15% or less would allow "handling" of 100% of the run.

Think about that folks...

Think of ALL the fishermen as one collective pot.... tribal, commercial, and sport. Now if somehow we could have every participant using a gear type with no more than 15% honest-to-God release mortality (not some made up tangle net BS), the ENTIRE runsize could theoretically be "handled" by the collective fleet and still meet the 15% ESA benchmark.

15% release mortality would mathematically give us all 100% access to every stinkin' hatchery fish in the run.

Put in those terms, it seems very do-able.
_________________________
"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!