Originally Posted By: Carcassman
Smalma and I tend to look at things differently. Different perspectives. If your goal is to recover/restore Chinook then restoring habitat is the key. They need quality habitat and we must fix it. And, we have time. Wild fish are surviving at low levels and will, ultimately, respond to better conditions.

Killer Whales don't have that option. They are starving. They aborting young. Polulations don't stay stable, much less recover, under those conditions. If, by some magic wand, all the habitat that affects Chinook was repaired by 6/30/20 (need time to do the work) it would not be until the adults return in 2024 that the whales would see more food. IF productivity immediately increased, harvest did not increase, and pinnipeds were controlled. The only way to turn them around is to stop all fisheries on immature Chinook. If you still believe that "too many" fish would spawn you can kill them in the rivers and keep the current goals.

If we continue on the current course, the STKW are doomed.

Also, Smalma notes harvests have been significantly cut back. I don't know the answer, but how much of the cutback is due to reductions on hatchery planting? Can't call those reductions "conservation". How much has the rate that is applied to, say Nisqually Chinook, changed since listing?


As I recall the output of Chinook from WA hatcheries has decreased about 60% from 1985. That only qualifies as "conservation" if you are supporting a decrease in hatchery fish competing with and diluting the genetics of true wild fish (if there is truly any such fish returning to Puget Sound rivers).

If one considers smolt predation by the over abundance of harbor seals as a habitat issue then an immediate reduction in those seal numbers before May 2018 should result in an improved return of both wild and hatchery produced adults earlier than 2024. Maybe by 2021?

Anyway, NOAA doesn't seem willing or able to take the initiative
so Rome burns while Nero fiddles on both ESA listed Chinook stocks and, more visibly, ESA listed Orca.
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