One thing about WDFW that has concerned me lately is the unwillingness to really educate the stakeholders. More of a "trust us" thing.

What I think they should do, and they have the data and models to do this, is to do a 4-year (for Chinook) look at what needed recovery would look like. They can do forecasts for the next 4 years that will be at least as accurate as they will do then. Do this for each wild Chinook stock in WA.

Then, set the management goal is that, annually, the escapement would be at least 110% of that achieved 4 years earlier for that stock. Develop fisheries that would model EACH stock achieving the goal on paper. It isn't necessary to get down to days fished but you would know where a fish could be taken.

Present this to the public as this is what is needed to recover all the stocks and give us payoff for the millions spent in habitat restoration and protection.

At that point, we as a society and anglers can decide on a pathway to follow.