I, for one, hope we never see this discovery utilized anywhere. Ma Nature doesn't make mistakes (at least not long-term ones). There's an important reason for the diversity of age classes. In fact, I think it's safe to say that if we tried to selectively breed hatchery salmon for size, we'd virtually wipe them all out in ocean fisheries before the first brood returned to any system to spawn.

To Carcassman's point, we have largely eliminated the upper end of the range by requiring a 7-year chinook to survive 5 to 6 years of commercial and sport fishing in order to return to its home river at its intended potential. Those are some long odds, and they do a lot to explain why you see fewer and fewer 50-pound specimens caught as time goes on.