More likely, however, is the possibility the new data will only add to the long-running debate over the issue.
Larry Engel, a former state sportfisheries biologist and member of a Matanuska-Susitna Borough mayor's task force looking at the fisheries, said the new data, some of which was released this week, is a step forward.
It includes better estimates of how many Mat-Su-bound fish are intercepted by commercial fleets, and will help check the state's current method of estimating returns based on a sonar counter in the Yentna River.
The reports are part of a $1.6 million study the state approved in 2005 in partnership with Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association because of concern about the dismal runs.