Wild Fish Conservancy Lawsuit to end Hatchery Steelhead

Apparently because of this lawsuit the Department of Fish and Wildlife is now delaying the release of 900,000 Steelhead (and I assume in effect destroying the 2015/2016 season). I fully agree that the preservation of wild stocks is of the utmost importance, but the decreased funding to WFD I foresee with the closure of hatcheries and loss of revenue from fishing licenses lead to more problems. Further, their argument is based on the decline of fish numbers since 1900. I would like to see the numbers of naturally spawning Steelhead since the creation of the hatcheries. There is lots of reasons stocks have collapsed in the last 120 years and those problems should be addressed before attacking attempts at recovery. I live in BC so do not fish in Washington a great deal, maybe a few weekends a year, but I do fish for Steelhead when there. I also fully recognize that the Columbia river hatchery program is one of the key reasons that the Chinook fishing is so good in the straight. Further, I volunteer at a salmon hatchery (we do not raise Steelhead). The river was almost dead when the hatchery was founded and now contains retainable runs of coho, Chinook, and through habitat restoration significantly more Steelhead. 

Of course nets in rivers don't kill native steelhead.

IMO I will not believe any of the parties are serious about managing native stocks while nets are in rivers.