Since this thread about Nisqually chum salmon and the river closure has morphed into Nisqually steelhead, there are some salient points to be made. It's counter-productive to blame either, and most likely untrue, non-Indian sportfishing or treaty tribal fishing for the decline in Nisqually wild steelhead abundance. The Nisqually steelhead run tanked beginning around 1990 just like all the other Puget Sound steelhead runs did. It was and still is a marine survival thing, not a sport-fishing or treaty net fishing thing. Even though it is likely true that the sport and tribal harvests reduced the spawning escapements in the seasons around 1990, steelhead are very resilient, and their populations typically rebound very well when the limiting factor is removed.
Targeted harvest of steelhead last occurred in 1993 for both the treaty and non-treaty fishermen. The population has had roughly 25 years, six generations, of insignificant harvest. (Some poaching does occur, by both treaty and non-treaty fishermen, just like on many other rivers, but the take is not enough to limit the productivity of the populations.) The population has not rebounded to the numbers witnessed in the 1980s because the factor limiting their abundance - marine survival - has not been removed.
There were significant improvements in spawning escapements in 2015 and 2016, which parallels the good escapements of most Puget Sound rivers during those same years. The most likely reason is that marine survival was better for all the runs at that time, but has not been sustained.
For those who like to harvest and eat steelhead, you need to support hatchery steelhead programs where possible. It is highly unlikely that wild steelhead harvest will ever be allowed in WA state again. With 7 million people in the state, and more coming here every year, there is just no way wild steelhead populations will recover to a level that supports a general harvest season. I think we will be fortunate if we can just maintain self-sustaining wild populations into the future. Some of them may support CNR seasons.
The Skagit River was mentioned above in this thread. Let me be clear: Skagit steelhead have not recovered from anything except the record low escapement of 2,500 spawners in 2009. The run has average around 8,000 steelhead for the last 40 years, ranging from the low of 2,500 in 2009 to 16,000 in 1988/ The river was closed to fishing after 2009 and remained closed because WDFW did not have a management plan approved by NMFS. In 2012 a grass-roots group calling itself Occupy Skagit (OS) analyzed Skagit steelhead data, determined that the run was not threatened or endangered, but was included in the Puget Sound-wide ESA listing. So OS asked the WDFW Commission to have the Department prepare a management plan for submission to NMFS. WDFW and the Skagit treaty tribes did finally develop the plan, and NMFS approved it last April. The Skagit CNR steelhead season that was intended to run from Feb. 1 to Apr. 30 opened on Apr. 12, Tues - Sun, allowing 12 days of fishing to the end of the month.
The Skagit will have a steelhead season again next year from Feb. 1 - Apr. 30, provided NMFS approves the co-managers' annual steelhead plan, which is compliant with the 5-year Resource Management Plan (RMP) NMFS approved last April. So there is no reason for NMFS not to approve it, other than much of the federal governement shut down at midnight last night. I'm adding this because the Nisqually might be a good candidate for a steelhead RMP in seasons when marine survival supports runs near or above the escapement goal.
While I'm on this steelhead topic, I'll add that IMO most all PS steelhead rivers are and have been at their natural carrying capacity in recent years. With no, or next to no targeting fishing on wild steelhead, wild populations certainly aren't limited by over-fishing by anyone. It appears that marine conditions have been controlling steelhead abundance in PS for nearly 30 years, certainly for the last 20. And with the steelhead smolt tagging studies over the last 10 years or so, it looks like much of that marine survival problem is with predation here in PS. My tagged smolt ended its seaward migration when it began showing up in the migration of a harbor seal following the tide in and out at the Nisqually River mouth and delta. The upshot is that fishing for steelhead in Puget Sound will be limited for the foreseeable future. If pinniped removal is supported for orca survival, I think both Chinook and steelhead smolt survival will benefit nearly proportionately.