The state's attitude reminds me about one of my own character flaws that really used to pi$$ my wife off.

As she's waiting for me to get into the car for an appointment, she says "Hurry up, we're gonna be late" as I leisurely climb behind the wheel.

As we're speeding down the highway with only 10 minutes to get to a destination that's 20 minutes away, she would be screaming "We're late! We're late! You always do this"

I would matter-of-factly reply, "No we're NOT late.... yet."

A few miles later, as the clock would turn past the appointed time, I would turn to her and say, "Okay.... NOW we're late"

The state can see where this steelhead catch is gonna end up if it continues, but is too bull-headed to admit there's a problem and pro-actively do something about it until the moment that the overharvest actually occurs. "Nah, there's no problem.... yet"

Then when it does, they finally admit. "Okay.... NOW we have a problem."