Did not get a chance to see the hearings but am looking forward to watching the replay once it is available.

The following comments are based on my understanding on a couple issues and not from info presented at the hearing.

Larry B -
For the Puget Sound rivers the numbers I have seen is that due to habitat loss (for steelhead much more than just spawning areas) has ranged from 50% to as much as 95%. On the average the current conditions ability to produce steelhead is only about 20% of the historic levels. While it is convenient to blame habitat loss it is a very real and significant problem.

During this period of low marine survival steelhead smolts (whether hatchery or wild) are surviving at 10 to 20% of what would be seen during good conditions.

Let's see a 80% in habitat productivity and a 80% reduction in smolt survival and we would expect that current runs would be approximately 4% of historic levels during good times. Could it be that these two factors account for nearly all the decline.

TastySalmon-
While it certainly true that hatchery steelhead (and the fishing for them) does not help wild steelhead eliminating the planting of hatchery steelhead has not resulted in increased wild runs. Across the Salish Sea (Puget Sound and Georgia Straits) wild steelhead number have exhibited a generally consistent decline in numbers of wild fish over the last 30 years. The holds true for those rivers that are being planted with hatchery fish, those PS rivers where hatchery plants were terminated 20 years ago or BC rivers that are not planted at all.

Hardly surprising that WFC can't explain the mechanism for detrimental effects of introgression. To date WFC has won their various suits on procedural issues (failure to get permits etc.) and not based on any "science".

Curt