Originally Posted By: cohoangler
Larry B - That’s one way of looking at it.

Or…….

The use of mark selective methods by the recreational anglers has provided additional fish for both State and Tribal fisheries. Indeed, without mass marking and mark selective fisheries, both sides would be arguing about a lot fewer fish since both sides would quickly use up whatever incidental take NMFS makes available.

The result would be that a lot of hatchery fish would be making it back to the rivers, but nobody would be able to harvest them, given the potential for incidental take of ESA fish above what NMFS authorizes (i.e., exempts from take). This highlights the importance of mass-marking all hatchery fish.


That is not in any way inconsistent with my prior post. One might speculate that the tribes dislike mass marking because it provides a reasonable way for all fishers to fish selectively and puts their non-selective fishers in a position of having to explain why they continue to kill ESA listed fish particularly in the face of a crisis currently being experienced.
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