I believe that the main reason for the reclassification was because of the similarity in life history to the pacific "salmon" species more so than mitochondrial DNA similarities. As Dan pointed out, just because an animal shares the same genus DOES NOT mean that they are the same species. (great example by the way Dan)

As h2o pointed out, this thread has DEFINITELY sidetracked from Sparkey's original post. When all is said and done, does it REALLY matter if a steelhead is a salmon or not. The bottom line is, we as sportfishers only have direct control over certain aspects of what may be causing the decline in fish numbers. Obviously nets, pollution, habitat loss, dams etc... contribute more to the decline that barbed hooks or bait. But let me ask you this, don't we owe it to ourselves and to the fish to do whatever we can to ensure that we'll have steelhead around in the short term, and for future generations to enjoy as much as we have?