So I ended up going to the meeting, so here's a synopsis. Annette Hoffman gave the main presentation, but a few other people of note were there including Doug Hatfield, Bob Everett, and a representative from SPU.

The forum was about this review.

First she went through some background information. Sockeye were introduced in the 1930's to the L. Washington watershed after the Cedar River was diverted. In 1969, the Cedar River escapement goal was 350,000. Now the escapement goal is 350,000 for the entire L. Washington watershed. Sockeye not only spawn in the rivers and tributaries, but also spawn on the beaches.

Data for this review was gathered from WDFW, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, SPU and UW.

The results were as follows: Adult return per spawner is low, this is relative to sockeye stocks in all of the Pacific. Productivity has declined since the 1970's. The hypothesis for the decline in L. Washington sockeye is that the fry are competing with the long fin smelt for food.

The escapement objective still remains at 350,000 adults through the locks (which results in 350,000 in the L. Washington watershed). The report suggests that 102,000 - 227,000 spawners are needed to keep populations at this level. With some conversions, it is suggested that having 140,000 to 311,000 adults passing through Ballard Locks will result in 102,000 - 227,000 spawners reaching their spawning grounds.

The following questions still need to be researched. What is causing low productivity? How are juvenile sockeye interacting with other species in the lake? How accurate is escapement methodology? Can fry survival be improved by delayed release?

They then talked about how policies are set with co-managers and all that.