and why do we continue to tolerate it?

****


I got on the Pacific Salmon Commission's website (the body which oversees the treaty with Canada) and this is the latest exploitation data available.

http://www.psc.org/pubs/TCCHINOOK09-3.pdf

Scroll down to page 121 in the actual document (page 129 in the Adobe Reader)

The index stock in the PSC database for coastal WA is the Queets River, about an hour from my house. Exploitation is currently (1999-2007 dataset) running about 60% of adult production. Of the total fish harvested, nearly half are taken in SE-AK (46.3%), 99% of which are troll caught. Between AK and the Canadians, they take more than 7 out of every 10 fish harvested.

Now let's talk ESA. Puget Sound chinook are ESA-listed and comprise a diversity of small local stocks susceptible to outside exploitation. How much of the catch is taken by the outside AK/BC fisheries?

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/papers/ps_chinoo...an_11-25-09.pdf


Hoko: 96%

Elwha: 75%

Skagit: 77%

Stillaguamish: 68%

Nooksack: 90%



Bottom line.... 100% of the burden for chinook production, conservation, and recovery falls squarely on local shoulders.... only to have the lion's share of the benefits squandered in distant outside fisheries.



HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!