I guess I'm still counting feeding 40 odd survivors for at least two weeks as save-ish.

I count Locke's first boar and the water find as about the same level of save; in both cases, food and water were in the jungle for anyone to find, but it took Locke and Jack to get off their asses and actually find it.

Jin would have to be catching a whole lot of fish to match a couple hundred pounds of boar.

We saw him pull in three good size fish with one throw; if that's the sort of success he's having, and he's fishing every day, he's probably bringing in the same level of protein as Locke bringing in 100 pounds of boar meat on a more irregular basis.

It'd be nice if they salvaged up some snorkeling equipment -- we had at least two divers on board and one has their dive bag -- and went hunting for crustaceans.

While I'd certainly be glad of boar meat if I were there, fruit seems to be abundant enough that no one would be in danger of starving by this point (even if the consequences might be somewhat unpleasant). I actually think Locke might represent more survival value in keeping people from getting lost and killing themselves in the wild than by directly providing meat. As long as he's out hunting, they don't have to and risk stumbling down a ravine or getting bitten by something dangerous (spider, polar bear, Lostzilla...).

in both cases, food and water were in the jungle for anyone to find

Finding either is easy. Collecting? Boar wins in the complexity department. No one complained of not enough water once the water was found.

fruit seems to be abundant enough that no one would be in danger of starving by this point

I don't know how long it would take them to die of malnutrition, but they'd be well on their way with such an imbalanced diet. I count nutrition as more important than medicine, myself.

...Uhhh, yeah. If he ever goes out hunting again, as opposed to telling everyone he's going out hunting but oh! those wily boars! when in actuality he's staring at hatches and giving surly young prettyboys lessons in Renaissance art history. Which, not so much with the protein-getting.

I'm not sure that Jack's skillset is all that useful, though. A surgeon can't do much if he doesn't have scalpels and clamps and anaesthetic and instruments, so barring some really spectacular coconut-technology, he's pretty much down to country doctor level. And country doctor stuff, well, at this point Sun does as good a job at that as he does.

Pfft. Every doctor is going to have trauma medicine experience, and a surgeon much moreso. There's no way an herbalist is going to have as much medical value as a surgeon. I'm not saying she's not valuable - but applying basil to a severed artery is not going to be as effective as somebody who can sew it up.

Ditto what other folks said - there's fruit aplenty, and pigs and fish. People would've figured out how to hunt. You can't figure out how to diagnose a systolic murmur.

Which, not so much with the protein-getting.

Perfect opportunity for someone to step up and prove him replaceable. So far, only Jin has a shot.

there's fruit aplenty

Except for the part where Kate and Sawyer had a conversation that established that the surviviors have already picked clean the trees near them, and are already having to expand their searches.

I don't understand. This week's episode was in part about the survivors' inability to find balanced meals for themselves.

You can't figure out how to diagnose a systolic murmur.

And how useful is this diagnosis, exactly?

And how useful is this diagnosis, exactly?

Very. When the systole's murmuring, you can't understand a fucking word it says.

Wait, why am I trying to convince people that Jack should be the first pick? The ideal strategy is to have people not think that, and suggest an S curve picking system and let them have the first pick! Then they take Locke and I've got Jack and Sun as my 2nd and 3rd picks. That way no matter who they pick as 4th and 5th, there are bound to still be at least two people left in my Pool of Potentially Useful people (Michael, Jin, Sayid, Hurley, Kate). If I'm really lucky they go by drool and pick Sawyer as 4th or 5th...

(bats eyes innocently) Gosh, you are so right, Locke's the one to pick! Too bad I'm going second! You're so lucky!

ETA: adding a not so that it makes, y'know, sense.