Chum seem to respond to broad oceanic cycles that are relatively independent of fisheries. The 69s and 70s were times of low abundance/productivity. This changed in the 80s/90s to abundance and higher productivity. We appear to be back into a low productivity regime. It is critical that managers have the institutional memory to evaluate these long-term cycles and then respond.

Piggy-backed onto this has been the explosion of pinks, and PS pinks have been known to depress PS chum. Couple this with water quality issues on the Sound, high changes in the ocean (the Blob) and I suspect there is too much information available for mangers to process in a timely fashion. Management would need to be significantly more conservative and that won't happen.