It seems that a few basic facts get lost in the discussion about what is and has caused the decline in steelhead populations. First is that steelhead are anadromous rainbow trout. They evolved to go to saltwater because the freshwater habitat where they spawn is not productive enough to support a large population of adults. There is a reason that there are few if any steelhead in the Northwestern Alaska rivers but the rainbow trout populations are healthy.

Fact 2 is as a consequence of being anadromus the ocean is habitat and for many populations critical habitat because they may spend a high percentage of their life in the ocean. We all recognize climate change and ocean conditions impact marine fish. What we tend to ignore is pollution and plastics in the ocean. I saw an article that predicted that by 2050 the mass of the plastics in the ocean will be greater than the mass of fish. Steelhead are surface feeders and as such ingest a lot of plastic as well as plastics in the food that they eat. Anybody who has cleaned steelhead and looked at their stomach contents probably as seen plastic. It is not good for their body condition and has a negative impact on reproductive success. Plastics in any habitat is bad but in the ocean it is a disaster, we caused it and we have to recognize and live with it.