Salmo g--thanks for the thoughtful and insightful post. I'm also concerned about the policies and politics involved here, as well as my personal loss of the fishery. I think it's clear based on history that the WDFW's mandate is to find "harvestable" numbers wherever and whenever they can--even if it results in emergency closures and the "oops" syndrome. It's also apparant that they are determined to separate the hatchery and wild returns by callendar, thereby making the two runs easier to manage. Why else have they allowed a systematic destruction of the already depressed early wild fish on the Snohomish system? For some reason in this state "healthy" runs translate into "good let's kill some fish." As we now see on the Penninsula rivers, they continue to allow a harvest of "surplus" fish. The fact is, there is no "surplus" in the natural order of wild fish population, and certainly not now in this age of habitat destruction, development and increased pressure. The true value of these fish, as you say, lies in the only sustainable fishery we have--catch and release. I would be curious to know what the incidental mortality rate is in a well-enforced C & R--it must be significant if it's worth closing the season for. Anyway, we could go on and on about run assessment methodology and the very notion of escapement goals, but my question is, who's listening? According to Mr. Kraemer, we are free to contact the commission before this is formalized, but he didn't think it would do any good. Salmo g., I hope you can send your excellent arguments to the powers that be, and I will be interested to hear what they say. If there's anything you think I, or any of us can do, let me know. Good luck.