I am curious why you think my 20 plus coho a year is an issue? my retention of hatchery coho some years is this while other years it is not but not one goes to waste. I enjoy coho over every other species of salmon. I have a family of 4 who also enjoy having fish through out the year. and yes with proper care fish will keep all year. As fishers we should not be looked down upon for keeping whatever amount of fish we feel we can consume.
I will note in most years I will not harvest any trout, char, or other salmon species throughout the year and have no issue with my harvest come the fall. Not one of these fish harvested is meant to make any difference in the future other than giving anglers the opportunity to harvest fish while ensuring wild fish are given the opportunity to populate for the future.
Exactly. People need to have all the background information on the fishery before commenting. When these coho salmon (mostly hatchery fish) reach the hatchery, certain number of them are picked to use as broods. Once enough broods have been collected to reach the egg target, the remaining fish (pretty much all hatchery fish) are surplus. Usually there are 20k, 30k, even 40k of them. A fish processor, contracted by Soowahlie First Nation, then come to the hatchery to transport them to their plant, where the fish are sorted and graded. Some end up as pet food, some end up as fertilizer, some would even end up at your local supermarket. How many hatchery fish anglers retain, have absolutely no impact on the sustainability of this fishery (unless we have a abnormally low return and brood target is hard to achieve). The hatchery staff in fact would love to see you retaining all the hatchery fish that you are allowed, so there are less fish plugging up the channel for them to deal with. I much rather having people retaining and enjoying as many hatchery fish as they want, then focusing on retaining wild stocks, or buying fish from the grocery stores. This, in my opinion, is the most sustainable and healthy protein you can get.