The rec community may feel dissatisfied over the loss of fishing access but many of us have beaten up WDFW over the wild Chehalis Chinook rarely making escapement. I think sports probably have exceeded the M.A. 2.2 modeled sport harvest of 572 total Chinook (530 wild). I also think there were few fish counts to back up the harvest estimate for this critical run. Overall I believe we should support this first attempt at in season management and any attempt to meet escapement.

Now contrast this action with Willapa where the modeled Naselle wild Chinook limits the overall fishery. The nets have taken 9,945 hatchery Chinook against a modeled 5,020 hatchery Chinook through September 8. The modeled season total of 8,046 hatchery Chinook has already been exceeded. This would indicate over harvest of the Naselle wilds as well. So what was the WDFW response? They quit posting the harvest numbers while the nets fish on!!!