My biggest concern with this issue is how hatchery/wild interaction has been shown to diminish overall wild productivity. It seems any "natural" spawning by hatchery fish yields exceedingly few returning adults. In the meantime, hatchery spawners compete with wild spawners for prime spawning gravel, and the juvenile progeny of those hatchery spawners compete with wild fry for a limited amount of riverine carrying capacity.

The other big concern is how the presence of harvestable hatchery stocks means that a fishery will be created to harvest those stocks. Since half of that harvest (you know which half) is completely non-selective, wild fish will inevitably also perish in that fishery.

Seems to me that no matter how you slice it, the co-existence of hatchery and wild steelhead always works against the wild fish. This is supported by the observation that almost no early-run wild fish are left in rivers that have been heavily planted with early-returning hatchery fish. The fisheries that target those hatchery fish take too many wild fish, and those that actually manage to escape must compete with uncaught hatchery fish for spawning and rearing habitat.

Broodstock programs are really not much better when this same analysis is applied. Perhaps you might get a slightly better fish in terms of reproductive fitness (actually don't know if that is true or if it has even been studied) but if they return with a clipped adipose fin, then a fishery will be waiting for them upon arrival. Again, since half the harvest is completely non-selective, more wild fish would perish.

My vote for the "correct" stocking strategy is to limit plants only to those rivers with remnant or non-existent wild populations. Stock the crap out of them! Any stream with a viable population of wild fish should not be stocked. Hatchery fish should be retained in any stream they are caught to help minimize the negative effects of straying. No retention fisheries on wild stocks until escapement goals have been assured, nets included.

The error of our past ways has clearly declared itself. Let's stop trying to fix things with tools we already know don't work. Our wild steelhead deserve no less.