"Still, the government does care and worry you’re not getting enough salmon." Bull-the government doesn't care. The politicians want to be re-elected and the bureaucrats want their funding. Period!
Before Europeans, the whales had plenty to eat. Hatchery fish are the big reason salmon are smaller. Not all returning fish are spawned. Each year hatchery fish are smaller. Why can't they be crossed with Elwha like salmon.
I'm near 70 and go back to when we had many more salmon. I was involved in putting salmon boxes in barren streams (back when common people were allowed eggs). Cross breeding is no big deal.
Also, what do the salmon eat in the ocean. We have overfished all the small herring, sardines, etc., that all bigger fish eat. When commercial salmon fishing crashed in the late 1970s, the politicians reopened  sardines and herring in closed areas before they had recovered. Just politics without science. I see sardines have crashed again. Herring is taken just for the eggs. Smart!