The mortality of released fish counts as "catch". So even when it is officially closed to retention, a catch occurs that must be balanced.

I am also reminded of something Phil Anderson said when he was asked why WDFW did not push for a longer steelhead season on the Hoh, when there were harvestable fish available to the sporties. He said "We got the fishery we wanted". Never would define who the we was but there are a lot of reasons why WDFW does what it does; they just won't tell us.

Trust us. We're the WDFW. We're here to help you.