Cowlitzfisherman -
What I had said was that to calculate past exploitation rates both escapement and catch information is needed (that includes any commerical catches).

Total exploitation= catch/(catch+escapement).

For winter steelhead most system have established escapement goals (especially in the Bolt case area). Goals for summer steelhead isn't nearly as complete. As you may have noticed the guidelines in the case of those areas without extablished goals no retention of wild steelhead was allowed.

We'll have to diagree about the quality of the escapement information, at least in the area (Puget Sound region) I'm familar with. To count the redds main stem areas are flown in helicopter several times a sesons, med-size streams float several times a month and representative sample of the smaller streams are walked several times a month. Of all the escapement information that I'm familar with only some of the bull trout information is better than the steelhead.

Tight lines
Smalma