Boater/Salmo g. -

I think many of us are unsure what the impacts on the increase harvest of hatchery fish by a selective commercial fishery on the lower Columbia would have on those up river fisheries. We will only know for sure after the policy folks make the decisions on how to allot the various impacts to the various fisheries.

For example those up river fisheries could well remain unchanged if the decision were to contine the same upper/lower river sharing of impacts/allocations that we currently have. All that requires is for any increase in lower river fishing impacts/allocation by a given fishery be balanced a reduction of in other lower river fisheries.

I think that if the State is indeed unsure how such a shift in the lower river paradigm will play out it would be cause for pause for at least some folks.

Heck on the lower river one could potentially spin the whole thing as a huge economic win. With a commercial selective fishery the commercial fleet will be able to sell more hatchery fish - an econmic plus. With a larger commercial take the recreational fishery behind it will be fishing on fewer fish. This of course would result in a lower catch/effort which translates into it taking more days effort to catch a given number of fish. Since the economic value in a recreational fishery is generated by number of man-days that fishery produces each of those recreational caught fish will be more valuable.

The classsic bureaucratic win-win result - now excuse me while I gag on my morning coffee.

Tight lines
Curt