TM,

Sorry, it's not that easy. Depends which stocks of fish you're talking about. In the Columbia River basin, dams are the number 1 harvester of salmon and steelhead by a very long country mile. With the dams harvesting 65 to 85% of the smolts, that's an equivalent proportion of adults that don't come back. Treaty and non-treaty nets typically harvest less than 50% of the adult fish that result from the remaining 15 to 35% that made it to the ocean.

Nets are the primary harvester of Puget Sound pink, chum, and sockeye salmon for sure. And probably chinook and coho as well, but it gets tricky when you add in ocean sport and troll, and Puget Sound sport catches. And do we count Canadian interceptions in this equation, or not? That has tended over the years to be mostly troll, with some net and sport.

Coastal stocks will vary. I don't know whether nets or hooks account for most of the catch. Coastal includes the significant net catches in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor, along with treaty net catches in most of the rivers. I'd give nets the nod, overall for the coast.

The answer, as so damn often is the case, depends. Columbia - dams. Puget Sound and coast - nets.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

P.S: Giving myself a big DUH! here. There are not dams of consequence on the coast, and dams are limited in number and impact on Puget Sound rivers, so nets are the dominant factor, of the two you asked about, impacting fish runs outside the Columbia system.

[This message has been edited by Salmo g. (edited 09-14-2000).]