I certainly urge earliest peer review and publication so that our scientists and fish managers will no longer be able to ignore what has been and remains one of the 800 pound gorillas in the room!

During the 8 August 2015 Commission meeting a preliminary presentation was made of results of a study on Salish Sea (Puget Sound) salmon and steelhead smolt marine survival: http://wdfw.wa.gov/commission/meetings/2015/08/aug0715_06_presentation.pdf.

This study clearly correlated increases in harbor seal populations to decreases in smolt survival but also cautioned that correlation is not proof of a cause and effect relationship. Well, the B.C. study seems to clearly establish that a cause and effect relationship exists - at least in the study area (and reasonably in the rest of the Salish Sea).