The current hatchery runs have not had the time in hatchery to be selected for earlier spawning in order to exacerbate the earlier return of age-1 smolts.

If they make no change in spawn timing then they will only have to deal with the smolt age return.

WDG tried very hard to develop hatchery fish that returned differently from the wild. But, they made the assumption that all wild steelhead were equal even though there was some evidence accumulating that the early returning/early spawning wild fish were the tributary spawners and the later fish were mainstem spawners. The Green (in King County) really showed a loss of the tributary spawners.