ESA is likely the only hope for salmon, and I don't think NOAA has the gonads.. It might be better if CITIES listed them and prevented international trade.

I was told years ago by a devoted conservationist and have repeated many times that nothing changes until a judge says " you shall and drops the hammer. " It looks like the hammering has started and is long over due.

How many of us grew up (??) believing that nothing was a problem until some person in power told us it was? As long as nobody above me says there is a problem, there isn't. Data be damned.

Much as we deride NOAA and other state and Federal agencies for being slow on the uptake I just read that up in Canada the Feds there might get involved in Spotted Owl issues. In the article they had the population down to 1 female. Methinks they might be a tad late in getting involved.

The greed of man needs policing, because obviously we can't police ourselves. Rape and pillage natural resources for profit until it's gone is man's mantra. Usually at the expense of others. Unfortunately regulators are slow to react, some having to lose an interest to enforce. Not a huge fan of regulation, but in many situations it's needed. As far as AK Chinook...our Chinook. Long time coming.

Hope this happens, but I also hope it doesn't mean they will put the screws even more so to those migrating stocks that end up in a can or posh market place that were destined for the PNW...

PNW Chinook salmons appear to be doing abundantly well both in the Great Lakes as well as Chile. If only we could identify any big key difference in management strategy between the geographic regions.....

“They're singling out, probably, the one thing that's easiest to single out: the directed harvest of salmon. But to think that's the root cause of the problem is not a responsible, reasonable or mature approach to dealing with declines in chinook populations.”

I was just at a meeting about Chinook in Chile. Here's what the don't have where the do have Chinook

Dams
Roaded watersheds
Clearcutting
No marine mixed stock fishing, sport or commercial
Almost no commercial harvest
Canada
Alaska
Harvest is in-river

There are probably a few other factors to go along with it but that's a starter list. Now to emulate their success which are we up here willing to give up?

Maybe equally relevant, they haven't had 125+ years of different parties pulling strings and manipulating the management or punting on any inconveniences to other political powers.

You are so right CM. The first and most easily attainable solution is to severely limit commercial and mixed stock sport and commercial harvest. You also have to severely limit the guided sport harvest. If you place more limits on guided sport fishing, that would lessen impact. It would provide the best result in the short term. All other man made issues can be tackled as you can. Tribes are another factor that can't be controlled but at least many work for the betterment of the resource. Never happen because too many livelihoods depend on both.