Under the ESA, unfortunately, the standard to be reached by the fisheries is that they don't "appreciably increase the chance of extinction" of the critter in question...which is why there are allowable ESA impacts on the LCR, impacts which inhibit recovery but are perfectly legal under the ITP's...which, incidentally, is why "more selective" commercial fishing won't really do $hit for recovery, and will just put more hatchery fish into the commercial totes.

In the LCR, harvest is an issue...but more selective harvest isn't the solution. Less dead wild salmon is the solution, and until there is some massive shift in paradigms, or a massive increase in habitat productivity, the wild stocks will be fished right down to maintenance level, which will never allow for directed harvest or recovery.

Fish on...

Todd