I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about the specifics of some of the fisheries issues on the Columbia and while I have some experience with fish management issues in other areas of Washington the number of mistakes atributed to me over the years probably brings into question my expertise regarding fish and fish management. However that has never stopped me from throwing in my two cents in this kinds of discussions so I'll take a quick stab at the issues that AnglerRentals and Todd have been circling around.

Let's start with very little is actually "known" about savings with a shift in gear type for the commerical fishers. There certainly is some potential for savings along the lines suggested by AnglerRentals but whether those are realized will depend on the details of how the fisheries are implemented and the choices made by managers. It is not a given that current harvests and ESA impacts by the commerical fleet will remain constant; in fact it would hardly be a surprise to see an increase with a gear shift though ultimately that remains an unknown

In addition it has long been the case that if a user groups leaves some ESA impacts on the table there has always been one or more other users that are more than willing to step up to the table for an increased piece of the pie resulting in all the impacts (dead fish)being used.

To some of the specifics for each of the mentioned species.

1) Spring Chinook -
I agree whole heartly that seal and sea lion predation and robbing of gear is a significant issue that needs to be addresses and those mortalities included in the overall ESA impacts. Without a doubt those critters rob the gill nets just as they do the fish caught on hook and line. Does anyone really think that given how smart and adaptable the seals and sea lions have proven to be that they will not quickly learn to take advantage of the seines? The degree that seal and sea lion gear robbing with be reduced with the use of seines is an unknown and benefits may only be short term.

2) Summer Chinook -
The potential of a selective fishery using seines would certianly be on the table however it is an unknown at this time whether the managers would force such a fishery or not. In addition even with a selective seine fishery the degree of savings will be influenced by whether the commerical fishery is given an increased harvest/allocation or not.

3) Steelhead -
As i recall that large steelhead catch in 2002 was because the netting took place early in the season when the ratio ofwild steelhead to Chinook was high. In recent years the commerical fleet has delayed their fisheries in order to not use up their steelhead impacts too quickly. With seines they would have the option of once again fishing earlier (better Chinook prices) and how much savings would occur with the gear shift will depend on the timing of the new fisheries, the number of steelhead handled and the mortality of those handled. In short the benefits are once again an unknown though the potential is there for reduced impacts.

4)Sockeye-
Again any savings with a gear shift is largely unknown. The sockeye are much smaller than the Chinook and gill nets designed to capture Chinook are inefficient in catching sockeye. That would not be the case with a seine. We can expect that it is likely that with use of seines in a summer Chinook fishery a significant increase in sockeye handle will occur and whether there is a savings will depend on the specifics (numbers caught, mortalties of released fish, etc).

Coho and chum -
This may be the best area for some saving with a gear shift but at least to my mind it remains unclear (unknown) whether the managers would force such a change and if so to what degree. Those decisions will likley depend on the particulars of each fishery (for example whether in a safe area or not, relative abundances of hatchery and wild fish, locations, timing , etc).

7) Tules-
While the experience fisher could separate most tules from other Chinook I'm sure that either the managers or the fishers would be willing to rely on such a requirement - it would create and interesting enforcement question.

Finally sturgeon -
With the current management paradigm there are harvestable sturgeon and some one is going to catch those fish and the comerical fleet will likely continue to get their "share".

As I state up front I may be off base with some or all of the above so feel free to flame away.

Tight lines
Curt