This is supposed to be a country of laws. Follow them or accept the consequences.

WDFW and NOAA consciously chose to either not issue the permits (and blame workload), chose not to to develop workable stop-gap measures that would pass legal muster if challenged, and so on. They simply hoped the "trust us, I'll pull out in time" would work.

The sad part is that the use of the early-timed winter steelhead is most likely lost for the foreseeable future because WDFW and NOAA didn't act. They gave WFC what they wanted with no fight and left the angling community on the bank.