I doubt all the charter boats and fishing lodges in S.E. Ak,the west coast of Vancouver Island and Washington State would consider conservation in the open ocean a cheap investment in the future (and a slick P.R. move).
I was mostly referring to commercial fisheries, but you're right to include lodges and charters in the discussion, since they do catch a lot of fish.
You know of any fishing lodges in Washington State? Me niether. By the time the fisheries up north are done, there's rarely enough left to support the kind of fishing experience the elite demand near the mainland. It's like the entire salmon industry is a giant welfare program. I, for one, am tired of paying into that system and getting screwed by it. The fish-buying public has proven they are willing to pay more for fresh salmon when supply is less, so the fishing industry can just jack up the price to absorb any losses incurred from lower quotas. That's how things should work when managing scarce or limited resources. As for the lodges, as long as their fisheries are still the most productive of their kind, the patrons will keep pouring in. I think it's safe to say that people willing to spend thousands of dollars for a few days' fishing and lodging aren't penciling out the value of a limit of every species to determine whether or not the trip is cost effective.
Maybe I overestimate how much people care about saving salmon, but I still think a major seafood processor making a public announcement that the future of salmon matters to them, so they're voluntarily reducing their impact would be a great PR move... not that I think anyone will make that move.
I don't know of any fishing lodges in Wa either but know of quite a few in S.E Ak & B.C. so I included them in the mix. Before I posted this I did a some research on ocean catch numbers. I was looking for recreational, commercial and bycatch broken down by AK,BC and WA. IMO these numbers should be readily available for all to see so we have a clear picture of where the damage is being done regardless of which group it is. I think there is a lot of the pot calling the kettle black in the world of salmon user groups that creates confusion and prevents progress in conservation. Regardless, and as an ex salmon troller, I have seen the ocean fisheries,recreational and commercial,first hand and have been a long time advocate of ending mixed stock fisheries and narrowing down the harvest to terminal fisheries. As for letting the free market, as in "major seafood processor making a public announcement that the future of salmon matters to them, so they're voluntarily reducing their impact" , you are right, wouldn't happen. The big seafood possessors will go as far as fighting regulations that have no real effect on their operations just because they don't want a precedent set that may effect their operations in other fisheries the future. All this said and it's only one complex part, as we are dealing with multiple governing entities, of a very complex societal problem, saving salmon from human greed.