Lets frame a part of the discussion in this manner. Just what is the maximum by catch % for any fisher? Are we talking total for the run or by the week? As a example in Willapa the week of Oct 8th commercial Coho harvest is 3380 and has a Chum by catch of 2922 for almost a 1 to 1 ration of dead Chum for Crab feed on the bottom. Need another example? The weeks of Nov 1st through 10th the Willapa Commercial harvest has 4593 Coho harvested with a Chum by catch mortality of 1163 which is a 4 Coho taken to dead Chum again on the bottom for the Crabs.

To further buzz your brain Region 6 spruced the model to get a 90% compliance to the rules to achieve a 56% mortality. In English R-6 said 90% of the commercial fleet would adhere stringently to the rules so only 56% of the Chum encountering a commercial net perished. First off 90% compliance fleet wide? One needs to be void of any thought process to buy that one! Try this, 56% means only 44% survive.

So think of incidental in another way, think by catch. Not fish A or fish B but rather the totality of by catch mortality of other species. It is the first step in getting off the stool and walking the walk that conservation dictates and very few of us choose to do so.