I feel Backlash has made a good point. I am originally from eastern washington and have fished many rivers in that area. The Ronde runs are big, but the fish are small 4-8lbs. versus the clearwater fish that are much larger. Dams are a factor, but so many little fish so high up the snake, is it just because they are small enough to survive the monofilament net walls in the lower columbia. Ahhh.... but nets are such a taboo subject, we wouldn't want to be tagged a "racist" suggesting their removal, or exploring other options, would we? The only option it seems by the state is more studies...more models. very frustrating.
The solution seems pretty obvious, if you want wild fish to return and spawn succesfully , the river must be healthy with spawning areas that aren't burried in silt, and limited interception in the sea and rivers by fishing. The dams have buried many main river spawning beds and if we want to see wild fish spawning in the main river in more places, they should be removed. But, removing dams won't be the solution. Stop netting the heck out of the rivers, let the fish populations get up to the spawning areas. Getting healthy runs back in the rivers, isn't going to be cheap. Power will cost more as a result along with other things. It comes down to whether or not people really want to make the sacrifice, or just say they want the fish back and do nothing.


[This message has been edited by KORE (edited 02-08-2000).]