This may be the best idea I have heard in the entire recorded history of the human planet. Especially when we recall that in the 1996 regulations cycle there were 170 public proposals received by WDF&W on all subjects. of these, 43 concerned some form of saving wild steelhead. Zero proposals endorsed killing wild steelhead. Then we hired Bern Shanks, and when he tried to save wild fish, he was fired.
Clearly the non-angling public is in favor of saving wild fish so that future ESA restrictions don't raise their utility rates etc. and I bet if a well-done initiative was on the ballot that it would easily pass.
What do other seasoned fish activists out there think?