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Where to Start? by Jim Hagedorn Lewiston Tribune, December 5, 2018

I grew up there, fished there and still have relatives that live and fish on Hood Canal. This was one of the best articles that I have read on the subject of the starving orcas. Eric Barker gave the opinions from both sides of the salmon recovery on how to feed the whales. ...

Both sides quoted in the article had opinions of what was happening to the missing fish. Barker brought out that neither side of the debate on salmon had scientific evidence in their discussion of what was happening, except that the salmon were disappearing.

In my opinion, these folks who are talking about what is wrong spend too much time thinking and not enough time on the waters in the sound, the straits and the rivers.

Not one of these folks even mentioned predators that eat and waste the fish. Where do we start?

Is it the thousands of Indian nets in Hood Canal and every river that is wide enough to stretch a net across in the state of Washington?

Is it the commercial fishing boats that fish with gill nets and seine, the sport anglers who have their own boats or go out with the guided boats?

Is it the seals and sea lions that hang out at the mouth of every river up and down the Pacific Coast eating salmon? Every river is full of them, as far as they can navigate up stream. This problem is not going to be easy to solve.