For all that attended tonight's WSC meeting...we can extend a very big thank you to biologist Curt Kramer.

He gave an excellent presentation and was open to all of our questions and comments.

Learned alot and had the chance to particpate in an excellent discussion.

He may recieve alot of flak for his decisions but he has a job in which he can not please everyone and usually hears about it...but the one thing that nobody can hold against him is that he is the most approachable and open employee within the WDFW.

And for anyone that did not attend tonight's WSC please mark your calender for the first Wensday in September...in excellent chance to get involved in an excellent group and bullsh*t with some fellow steelheaders.

Ditto Sparkey's comments.

Curt takes a lot of flak, but I left that meeting with a lot of respect for him and appreciation for the difficult job he has to do.

He left us all with a lot to think about, from the effect of politics on the WDFW's ability to manage anadromous fish populations to some ideas as to why our runs of North Puget Sound spring steelhead are dwindling.

my .02,

Brian

I found Curt's info on potential steelhead parr mortality due to incidential catching in bait fisheries very interesting. Also the extremely short[we were running out of time] info on the reduction in the numbers of residulized rainbows in our Puget Sound rivers. If steelhead parr and smolt numbers are down then more residualized rainbow "smolts" go to sea. They are [if available!] the steelheads safety net. Curt did some intro information on recruit/spawner/escapement in relationship to
MSY/equalibrium/carrying capacity and asked the group of 30 to 35 people[all interested in steelhead and semi informed] where they would prefer to see escapement goals set on the curve and recieved 15 different answers. No wonder he can't please any of us. I believe he does err on the side of the fish------ I guess you just should of been there!! THANKS SO MUCH CURT