What is the impact of commercial fishing on salmon and steelhead in the Klamath River?

The Klamath River serves as a passageway for several species of anadromous fish, including salmon and steelhead. "Anadromous species hatch in fresh water, grow to maturity in the ocean, and return to fresh-water streams to spawn." (United States v. Eberhardt, supra, 789 F.2d at p. 1357, fn. 4.) The Klamath River salmon and steelhead begin their lives in the freshwater spawning grounds at the headwaters of the River and its tributaries and in state-owned hatcheries, and swim out to the Pacific to mature. The relatively small number of fish which survive to reach the sea and grow to maturity return to the headwaters of their birth to spawn the next generation. The salmon then die. The returning salmon and steelhead travel upstream in large schools, or "runs," which become targets for commercial fishers who drape gillnets across the river, capturing substantial portions of the run before it can reach the upstream spawning grounds. ² Because a small portion of the Klamath River flows through the confines of the lower Hoopa Valley Reservation, virtually all of the commercial fishers are Yurok Indians who claim a tribal right to commercially fish the river.