Denham,

If the ocean mixed-stock fishery that Flea Flicker suggested doesn't appeal to you, may I suggest that you focus on a buy-out/ban on gillnetting on the lower Columbia River (LCR)? That fishery has become an anachronism that is inconsistent with conservation. It is also a non-treaty, non-Indian fleet, so racism is not an issue. And, importantly, there exists a reasonable solution that is consistent with conservation.

The LCR gillnet fishery kills steelhead and wild spring Chinook when hatchery spring Chinook are available for harvest. It takes a mix of hatchery and wild summer Chinook, and then in the fall it takes ESA listed tule fall Chinook while trying to harvest abundant upriver bright Chinook and hatchery tule fall Chinook. The reasonable alternative is fish traps. But not the little one like the one being tested by the Wild Salmonid Conservancy down by Cathlamet. Large fish traps that could trap, sort, and separate by species and hatchery/wild status could be readily retrofitted at fish ladders at Willamette Falls, Bonneville and the Dalles Dams, Barrier Dam on the Cowlitz, and Merwin Dam on the Lewis River. Such traps would allow the sustainable harvest of hatchery origin salmon while safely releasing wild salmon, or when harvestable numbers of wild salmon are available, some of those could be harvested as well.

These would be salmon in good table fare condition because the prospective trapping locations are low in the river system. This alternative uses existing technology that is known to be effective. Only salmon that are known to be harvestable would be removed from spawning populations.

The downside is change. People resist change. Change is hard. Change is not the preferred alternative. Supporting the status quo gillnet fishery is easy. It is traditional for over 100 years. It is also akin to believing that you can pick up a turd by the clean end.