With the very low marine survival rates for steelhead these days, the only justification for any new steelhead hatchery program would be to keep an imperiled population from going extinct. Producing more fish for recreational angling is a biological and ecological pipe dream at this time. At the rate things are going with marine survival, I won't be surprised to see more recovery programs, like the Hood Canal steelhead recovery efforts, being developed.

The fundamental problem with native wild steelhead broodstock hatchery programs is that they are detrimental, instead of beneficial, to the native wild steelhead population. C'man mentioned the basic issue above. Hatchery steelhead, even one generation removed from the wild, are less effective in reproduction in the natural environment.