Harvest managers manage harvest, so they manage what "is," not what could be. For example, when we habitat management types were planning the recovery and enhancement of Baker sockeye, HM didn't have that salmon stock on their radar screen. For good reason. The population had been on the verge of functional extinction for long enough that they had no reason to think about it. Easy peasy. No run forecasting, no planning, no nothing.

With the new fish passage system came significantly enhanced run sizes that caught HM by surprise with no plan for what to do. The Skagit tribes, on the other hand, had been anticipating this for years and had a simple, but effective, in season run size estimation method in place. The Tribes knew what they wanted, and when NT sport fishermen saw the Baker dam count, they knew that they wanted a piece of the action. WDFW constructed a "new silo" to deal with Baker sockeye HM, but not until there were fish to put in the net and in the tote.