THis is a case of simple overharvest in the face of poor reproduction. Once upon a time shorts outnumbered fish in the slot 20+/1. Now its the other way around. The writing has been on the wall with this for 5+ years, but WDFW/OFD have had their head in the sand and allowed pretty much the status quo for seasons in the face of an obvious shortage of recruitment. This action is closing the barn after the horse has run off.

Sturgeon haven't had a decent spawning year in over a decade. Fish in the slot are 10-15 years old. Looks like we're at least a decade from having a decent year class of fish coming in to the slot (assuming they had a good spawing year this year).

My hope is that if I ever get to retire, I might be able to fish sturgeon then (~ 25 or 30 years from now).

I agree the sea lions at the dam should be killed and that might protect some of the existing spawning stock, but that's not going to make them having spawning success, its just going to protect the spawning stock until they have a good year.