Here's another attempt to "think outside the box." We invest millions of dollars in salmon hatcheries to rear fish that are mostly harvested outside WA state or commercial fisheries in WA. The ROI (return on investment) to WA recreational fishing is very low. Add to this our extremely low hatchery steelhead smolt to returning adult survival rates and we have another example of an extremely low ROI.

We already know that the best hatchery ROI in WA is the trout stocking program for lakes. If I had the current cost information, I would run the numbers to see how viable it would be to raise hatchery steelhead to adult size (6 - 10#) for release into selected waters for steelhead "put & take" fishing. This couldn't be widespread, at least initially, due to concerns about interbreeding. Maybe use triploid steelhead.

If I could, I'd stop raising hatchery salmon for Canada, and switch that rearing space to raising steelhead for WA recreational fishing. Hey, I'm just brainstorming here. I don't know what the "best" solution is, but spending millions of dollars to raise fish that don't accrue to recreational taxpayers and license buyers has got to be the "wrongest" alternative ever.