“Why should we care? If you’re a steelheader, the reasons are obvious. If you are not, the depleted state of wild steelhead populations coast wide serves as a powerful example of a valuable resource squandered and a lesson for anglers and fish managers everywhere. On a bigger scale, steelhead are an indicator species, the proverbial canary in the coalmine of population growth and human consumption. In other words, the health of wild steelhead is a direct reflection of the health of both our watersheds and marine environments. Steelhead can clearly survive without us – the question is, can we survive without them?”
Growth, hatcheries, put ‘n take mentality, logging, all government planning, and I wonder about ocean going trawlers and long lining. We don’t hear about this much anymore and 20 years ago, it was the critical threat to runs. No one mentions it anymore. Wild Steelhead (even hatcher steelhead) have been declining for almost 30 years with floods, siltation, habitat and hatcheries. This article by Tomine gives the breadth of the decline. So, if government and man planned the wrong way before…perhaps the current over planners and over spenders can partially fix the decline without legislating man away from the recreational opportunities..
SwittersB & Exploring 