All the chinook that would have been caught would have been bought at a better price then the coho. I have heard nothing of the park servive paying for the clipping of the fish?
I believe the biggest reason for the lack of chinook can be directly linked to the "100 year freshets" we have had the last 5 or 6 years in a row. Anyone who is out there can see for each of the last 5 years right after the chinook spawn, wham, big freshet. Whole gravel bars are moved. Old growth trees rip down the river, etc.