Treefarmer,

Allowing more fish than the escapement goal to spawn, on average, doesn't increase subsequent run returns. The reason is that every habitat has a finite carrying capacity. Biologists and others understand that, and because carrying capacity is finite, that fact was used to define Maximum Sustained Harvest (MSH) which is a close relative of Maximum Sustained Yield (MSY) as the treaty and non-treaty co-managers' court approved and ordered salmon management policy.

Getting Region 6 WDFW to deliberately allow one more salmon than the escapement goal reach the spawning grounds will require more than a change of management philosophy. It requires a change of the WDFW legislative mandate to provide for commercial fishing. For reasons the Department cannot or will not explain, the QIN commercial fishery is not interpreted by WDFW as fulfilling the commercial fishery mandate.

Sadly, after last year's experience with Region 6, with every sport fisherman in the room agreeing that the paltry few chum forecast above escapement (between 300 and 400 I think) should be allowed to escape, DrifterWA is right. The error bound of the runsize forecast was larger than the estimated runsize. Still if Region 6 can twist the interpretation in any way to allow more gillnet days, and more impacts to under-escaped stocks, they will do it, because that's exactly what they did.

It's hard to imagine what force is driving over-exploitation of GH salmon. It makes one think that one of the gillnetters has secret photographs of the Director screwing a goat or something. But continue to expect high quality lip service to conservation.

Sg