I looked up the egg take for 2007 satsop hatchery took well over 2million coho eggs.. the hump hatch took roughly 2mill eggs .. and they use to plant 1.5 mill coho there.. now its around 2to3 hundred thousand.. every yr its less and less that get planted .. so less they plant the less come back they need to open the hatcheries up full bore and we will see good numbers again... (yes I know that ocean conditions are bad ) but more they plant the more fish will come back...

oh yea I forgot THREE gillnet user groups don't help at all...

I will try to post the EPIC coho numbers that returned to the Siuslaw river in Oregon back in the day that supported a number of canneries.

Good to remember what the really good times were like.

Thanks, doc.

We really do need to look at "what used to be". But it needs to be balanced by what was going on in the environment, both terrestrial and aquatic. What fisheries were going on in the ocean, what was the status of the food chain, how many seals, how many dams, and a whole list of things.

Just because we used to produce 5 million smolts doesn't mean we can now. I know of a number of hatcheries in WA where development in the watershed has reduced the amount of water they can divert. Can't grow fish without water.

Budget shortfall seems to be the most recent excuse.

Budget will always be the excuse given.