Salmo,
Perhaps this should be under a separate topic, but some of the points you make apply.
The Fish and Game Commission will not be taking public testimony on catch-and-release of all wild steelhead at the December meeting as I had been previously informed. They are, however, putting together a public meeting in the early spring which will address that and associated topics. As I understand it, the purpose of the meeting is to put the best current information on the table and on the record concerning the actual productive capacity of watersheds, catch-and-release mortality of mature steelhead, and the benefits of year-round, statewide catch-and-release of wild steelhead. I gather that an independant panel of fish biologists and fisheries scientists have been invited to contribute.
It's still in the planning stages, but I think that, with the current composition of the commission, catch-and-release of wild steelhead will be presented in a favorable light. I do have some (perhaps foolish) hope that this may signal a turnaround in today's management policies, and with the current forecasts for this winter's steelhead returns (at least for Puget Sound rivers) in the toilet, I only hope we aren't ten years too late. I'll pass along any further information as it becomes available.