It shows that the hatchery program was not what was controlling the winter numbers. You are right, Jake, that if you close fishing and nothing happens then something else was holding down the run.

It is necessary to have significantly better monitoring than we now do because the stocks have way more impacts. Coho and steelhead, in an ideal situation, seed a stream from the top down. An escapement of 1,000 fish that spawns 50% of the creek produces half the smolts of a 500 fish escapement that spawns the whole thing. Been there, done that, counted the fish.

A steelhead stream produces more smolts when the smolts are younger and they are younger when the productivity of the stream (nutrients) is increased. Again, fewer spawners may produce more returning adults.

In this situation, something other than the stocking of a segregated summer steelhead stock was holding down winters. In a different OR stream they laddered a barrier that allowed winters into an area previously occupied only by summers and the summers declined due to competition for rearing area. Stop passing winters, and the summers rebounded.

It may feel good to stop releasing hatchery fish (known to be the evil spawn of Satan) but sometimes they are not the problem; just the easiest action.

It appears in the this situation that passage was the problem. The question that should be asked is can we put a segregated summer program back in? If it does no harm, then why not?