Micro 101:

I do agree that we took our steps in the wrong order. Nets are totally unacceptable to me. (I donated my time and my $$ to the net ban initiative. I went door to door with petitions and I wrote in support of the ban whenever possible.) BUT . . . the nests are still there. Should we do nothing to solve the other problems simply because we cant' yet solve the net problem? I think not. Let's do what we can when we can.

As far as the lack of netting in B.C. rivers, unfortunately it is a problem in many. A huge chum net fishery in the Fraser hammers the Thompson River steelhead. There is also native and commercial netting in many other rivers, but I admit that I am not aware of much, if any targeting of steelhead. C&R will work if there is not an unacceptable level of pressure and if the other factors are not too bad. With many of our O.P. rivers C&R should work quite well. Some of those rives still have solid runs of wild fish in spite of netting and all the other problems. Those rivers may well become world-class destinations now.

SALAMA: How can you say that harvest is not an issue in declines of salmon and steelhead? Perhaps SPORTS harvest is not much of an issue, but how do you account for dramatic declines in rivers, like the Hamma Hamma, Duckabush, Dosiwallips, etc. etc. Rivers with no dams, and relatively intact environments.

I still believe that every wild fish that we do not kill has a chance to spawn. 100% of the wild fish we kill do not.