Keeping Salmon Inside the 200-Mile Limit

The April 1977 issue of Sunset magazine offers a clue to what might conceivably be a means to develop the offshore salmon fishery in a way that will most benefit American fishermen. The article describes year-round fishing in Puget Sound for resident salmon. These are fish that stay in the sound instead of migrating far offshore in the normal fashion.

Evidently the resident fish grow from hatchery-produced smolt which have been released later than usual. Starting in 1971, marine biologists in the Puget Sound area began a delayed-release program. The result is a soaring population of Chinook (king) and coho (silver) salmon.

Suppose a delayed-release program were to be begun in Alaskan waters. Is it possible that the program would lead to a high population of salmon living their entire lives inside our new 200-mile limit where only we could catch them?