Thanks for that, Carcassman. I was just thinking along the exact same lines. I find myself wondering all the time why steelhead don't seem to respond to protections the way other, similar species have. It seems as if there is some critical factor in their survival that we either don't understand or can't fix.

Is it freshwater habitat? Maybe, but I would echo Carcassman's questions above.

Is it overharvest? Probably not. Wild steelhead retention has been outlawed nearly everywhere for quite a while now, and there is very little commercial harvest on them (compared to what salmon are subjected to, at least). Sportfishing is probably a factor, but it hardly seems realistic to consider it a major limiting factor.

Is it genetic pollution by hatchery fish? Maybe, but wouldn't one have to ask how hatchery salmon, much larger numbers of whom likely spawn with their wild counterparts, haven't had a similarly devastating effect on wild salmon? At any rate, I think overharvest is the key limitation for salmon, as a worldwide food fish in high demand.

Is it dams? Maybe in some cases, but certainly not all. Systems without dams have struggled to recover wild steelhead as well.

Predation? Again, I would ask why other species wouldn't be impacted to the same degree, but I guess I can imagine that since their smolt outmigration timing coincides with the major shorebird migrations in our region, there might be a unique factor there. I kind of doubt it....

As milt roe said, it seems clear that something critical to steelhead survival in the marine environment is badly broken. I wonder whether we should pinpoint Puget Sound specifically as the compromised area, because sea run cutthroat, who seem to have a similar life history to steelhead, are doing fairly well throughout the sound.

Whatever it is, there seems to be something to which steelhead are far more sensitive than other salmonids that is limiting their recovery. Hopefully, we can figure out what that is. Then, we have to hope it's something we can reverse.

Whatever the case, at a time when budget restrictions are already crippling our DFW, it hardly seems like suing them (the ones who SHOULD have the most biologists trying to find the key to steelhead recovery) will do anything to assure the long term survival of wild steelhead. A saying about cutting one's nose off to spite his face comes to mind....