As the run declines, the co-managers will be able to demonstrate that the habitat capacity has been reduced so that the current population is at carrying capacity. Steelhead are just to complex, too interrelated with salmon, and just too difficult to manage.

Even if you set the annual exploitation rate at X, the real rate is higher because some fraction of the fish harvested in year 1 would have returned in year 2, 3, etc. Those are mostly females and significantly more fecund so the true impact is even higher.