"Look at the Skok. At least out in marine waters it all just floats away."

If WDFW is looking toward the future, they can see that there isn't much of a future in river bank accessed public fishing. It makes economic sense, if not entirely social sense, for WDFW to focus on boat accessed fishing. Boat accessed fishing returns more dollars per fish landed to the state economy than does bank fishing. Add to that the high cost of generating a landed steelhead, whether of hatchery or wild origin, and it becomes readily apparent that this is a fishery of the past, and not the future.

Not to drift too far off topic, but a hatchery steelhead has the least favorable return to the economy. If it costs $6/pound to produce steelhead smolts at 6/pound and the SAR rate is less than 1%, it makes more sense to raise coho smolts at 15 - 25/pound and get a SAR rate of 4% or higher, depending on location. And when those coho are caught by boat anglers in marine waters, the $$ contribution per fish to the state economy is even higher.

Public access to public fish resources will probably get worse instead of better. I hope WDFW can obtain this access lease.

Sg