The other area that we MUST insist on more accurate accounting is the number of dead Chehalis-origin chinook intentionally harvested in 2-C. We've only had this chinook fishery around for a handful of seasons (since 2005), but it's only been in the last 2-3 years that the chinook catch has really taken off. Obviously the gillnetters are figuring it out a little better each year with more seasons on the water. As that chinook catch grows, so does the number of Chehalis-bound chinook.

The mixing of Chehalis-origin chinook in 2-C has been under-appreciated, and previous estimates of Chehalis kings in the 2-C catch is biased low by a significant margin. The 2011 pre-season estimate of wild Chehalis kings harvested in 2-C was only 63 fish out of a harvest of 1158 kings (5.4%). Post season chinook harvest was actually much higher at 1858, a factor of 160%!

I briefly reviewed some of the assumptions going into that 2-C Chehalis chinook impact estimate with Region 6 bio's the other night. Turns out the Chehalis component could be more like 30-40% of the kings encountered in 2-C!

So instead of the predicted 63 fish, it could easily have been over 600 Chehalis-origin kings that ended up in fish totes bound for commercial buyers.

Bottom line... a more accurate accounting of Chehalis chinook impacts in the 2-C gillnet fishery will drastically reduce the number of impacts available to fuel coho-directed gillnet days in 2A/2D.