Bob -
Two of the points that you have made in this discussion are;
1) The catches are being under reported &
2) Escapements are being over counted.

Further you seem to feel that those errors are substantial. Just for discussion sake let's assume that both are off by 20%. In addition let's see what that means on a hypothical river whose MSY levels were determined form river specific data that yielded an escapement goal of 10,000 and potential fishing impacts (nets. bonking, and hooking mortality) of 6,000. The impacts would be 6,000/16,000 or 37.5% of the run. (For this discussion I'm assuming that the state hired a couple of the steelhead experts on this site as management biologists so each year the escapement and impact goals are precisely achieved).

If we correct for the estimate errors the actual catch would be 20% higher - that is 7,200. The actual escapement would be 20% lower or 8,000. The fishing impacts would be 7,200/15,200 or 47.4%. While it looks like over fishing has occurred what it really means is that the MSY escapement goal was over estimated and the allowable impacts at MSY were underestimated.

Since the information from the Quillayute was a major component in the determination of escapement goals in most Western Washington rivers if your allegations are correct then maybe the State should consider adjusting what the MSY levels would be for those rivers -that is lowering them.

Bob - the roar you are hearing is the "bonkers of the world" applauding you for pointing out the errors of the State's approach. LOL!

Tight lines
Smalma