In a mixed stock fishery over hatchery and wild fish, when the wild fish are not listed, and the hatchery fish are divided between user groups, then the more selective all the fisheries can be, the better...in most cases less wild fish will die, and there will be maximization of hatchery fish harvest, which is what they are there for.

This won't always be the case, and the example I've used the most would be the recreational fishery at Sekiu, especially when there are lots of wild fish around.

If you have to release wild coho, but catch and release ten of them to harvest two hatchery coho, you have likely killed more wild coho than you would have if you were just allowed to harvest them directly, since the recreational fleet likely has a 50% mortality rate on bait caught wild coho in the salt.

That's a situation when a selective fishery makes no sense.

In cases like that, you really have to look at the stock compositions that are around...when wild fish greatly outnumber the same species of hatchery fish, you have to math out what will kill the most wild fish...bonking them, or releasing a lot of them in order to bonk your hatchery fish.

Several years ago there were two proposals on the table for Grays Harbor tributary steelhead fisheries...one that allowed sporties to bonk one wild steelhead per day, and one that allowed them to bonk none...I don't recall the numbers they expected to be handled, but the numbers showed that a bonk fishery would result in a shorter season with more wild fish killed, and less hatchery fish harvested, than would the longer season with wild fish release.

In that case, a selective fishery made the most sense...more wild fish spawned, more hatchery fish were harvested, and we got a longer season to do it over...a win for everyone except the trophy hunters.

Fish on...

Todd