60000 smolts is actually pretty small as far as hatchery releases go, you might get 1-2K back.
Exactly... a whopping 1500-2000 fish return.... WHOOPEE!
So what's the point of planting the fish in the first place? With so little potential reward at the end... at a time when NO FISHING is planned during dam removal and the ensuing 5 years? How are the out-of-basin fish to be removed from a system that is supposedly being managed for WILD recovery?
There's talk of a weir that could be used to remove these fish, but the weir cannot fish at all flows, and some amount of straying past the weir is bound to occur. You can't possibly believe they can get 'em all, so why expend the effort and $$$ to plant 'em there when it only obligates them to even more effort and expense to get 'em the hell out?
The equation stacks up like this.... virtually all risk and virtually ZERO reward. The risk benefit analysis clearly speaks against Chambers fish being planted in the Elwha.
If they are really that hard up for what little harvest benefit the program will produce, why not just plant those turds in another OP stream where hatchery steelhead harvest is already occurring. Damage already done, just put 'em there.
Just leave 'em out of the Elwha!
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"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)
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