How ridiculous to speak of recovery on a river where they just put a dam 7 years ago, maybe the last big dam in Washington state, also I'd be willing to bet 200 wild fish have allways returned to the cowlitz and probably always will. Recovery on the Cow boils down to Tacoma PUD tryin to save some bucks. There is no surprise that wild fish smolts survive better then hatchery smolts, funny how having some knowledge allows us to think that others have none. Trucking fish around dams has nothing to do with the recovery of runs, in my opinion. Seems a pricier options then running hatcheries, oh but I forgot the feds will probably pay for that and not the hatcheries. Sounds like you are either involved in and getting paid by the fish mongers or you stepped on too many hooks at blue creek, there Salmo. C