Freespool,

I'm not sure I understand you. It appears that because harvest is not THE proximate cause, or THE limiting factor affecting salmon and steelhead recovery, you want us all to agree that harvest is not a factor at all. That simply isn't the case. Harvest is one contributing factor, just not the main one.

All causes of mortality are factors affecting the rate of egg to adult recruitment. But some factors are far more significant than others. And some factors are natural factors beyond our control. And some factors are human induced, but easier or harder to control, depending on the specific attributes of the situation. Any source of mortality that can be reduced will help to some degree to contribute to recovery. If harvest is one the sources of mortality, and it is reduced, then that amount of reduced mortality contributes to recovery by increasing the number of adult recruits.

We have seen wild steelhead harvests reduced to extremely low levels, but the runs have not recovered. That doesn't mean that the former harvest rates were not a factor affecting the populations. It means that harvest wasn't the only factor, and wasn't the limiting factor. But it should be clear that without the harvest restrictions, those threatened populations would be in even greater jeopardy.

Similarly, the reduced harvest rates on LCR tule chinook, is highly unlikely to recover those populations IMO, because the small tributary habitat of those fish is trashed pretty bad. And elimination of harvest will increase escapements somewhat, but won't recover the runs because egg to smolt survival won't be high enough. However, that doesn't mean that harvest is not a factor. Again, it means that harvest, while a contributing factor, is not the proximate cause (at this time). Harvest probably was the proximate cause in initially depleting those runs because of the high hatchery production and the high harvest rates applied to both hatchery and wild chinook alike, causing the wild runs to decline. At the same time, society was trashing the tributary watersheds with heavy logging and road building such that under current conditions, those populations won't recover, not due to over-fishing, but because the habitat is now the limiting factor.

If this seems complicated, it's only because it is.

Sg