Actually Glenn as I recall we did cut open a lot of chinooks in the two chinook collecting seasons (07-08) I was present for. Sometimes we were worried about being short on eggs or the skein wasn't loose enough to release the eggs. I also remember walking down around that big bend and finding all the rotting carcasses. I can't see your practices changing any.
Maybe it was the Coho carcasses that were found. They are cut open as a method to extract eggs.
Also Glenn, I do not recall all the fish we processed to be dead while processing. I also recall fish being killed, being left in the sun and being wasted because they had been dead too long. A picture or video is worth a thousand words my friend.