Comprehensive Management Plan for Puget Sound Chinook
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Comprehensive Management Plan for Puget Sound Chinook: Harvest Management Component PUGET SOUND INDIAN T RIBES AND THE WASHINGTON DEPAR TMENT OF FISH AND WI LDLIFE A P R I L 1 2 , 2 0 1 0 Puget Sound Chinook Harvest Management Plan Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. I LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ IV LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... V EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................. 1 1. OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES ......................................................................... 4 1.1 Scope of the Plan .................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Objectives ............................................................................................................... 5 2. FISHERIES AND JURISDICTIONS ...................................................................... 9 2.1 Southeast Alaska ..................................................................................................... 9 2.2 British Columbia ................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Washington Ocean ................................................................................................ 11 2.4 Puget Sound .......................................................................................................... 12 Tribal Ceremonial and Subsistence Fisheries .............................................................. 12 Commercial Chinook Fisheries .................................................................................... 13 Commercial Sockeye, Pink, Coho, and Chum Fisheries ............................................. 14 Recreational Fisheries .................................................................................................. 17 2.5 Non-Landed Fishery Mortality ............................................................................. 18 2.6 Regulatory Jurisdictions affecting Washington fisheries ..................................... 20 Puget Sound Salmon Management Plan (U.S. v. Washington) ................................... 20 Pacific Salmon Treaty .................................................................................................. 21 Distribution of Fishing Mortality ................................................................................. 22 Trends in Exploitation Rates ........................................................................................ 22 3. POPULATION STRUCTURE – AGGREGATION FOR MANAGEMENT ... 24 3.1 Population Structure.............................................................................................. 24 3.2 Management Units ................................................................................................ 25 3.3 Population Categories ........................................................................................... 27 4. MANAGEMENT THRESHOLDS AND EXPLOITATION RATE CEILINGS29 4.1 Upper Management Thresholds ............................................................................ 29 4.2 Low Abundance Thresholds ................................................................................. 29 4.3 Exploitation Rate Ceilings .................................................................................... 31 Derivation of Exploitation Rate Ceilings ..................................................................... 32 5. IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................................. 34 5.1 Rules for Allowing Fisheries ................................................................................ 34 Page i Puget Sound Chinook Harvest Management Plan 5.2 Rules That Control Harvest Levels ....................................................................... 35 5.3 Response to Critical Status ................................................................................... 37 Implementing CER ceilings in response to northern fisheries interceptions ............... 38 Discretionary conservation measures ........................................................................... 39 5.4 Pre-season Planning .............................................................................................. 39 5.5 Compliance with Pacific Salmon Treaty Chinook Agreements ........................... 40 5.6 Regulation Implementation ................................................................................... 41 5.7 In-season Management ......................................................................................... 42 5.8 Enforcement .......................................................................................................... 42 6. CONSERVATIVE MANAGEMENT .................................................................... 44 ESA Conservation Criteria ........................................................................................... 44 6.1 Harvest Objectives Based on Natural Productivity .............................................. 44 Accounting for Uncertainty and Variability ................................................................ 45 6.2 Protection of Individual Populations .................................................................... 46 Management Units in Critical Status ........................................................................... 48 6.3 Exploitation Rates and Escapement Trends .......................................................... 49 6.4 Equilibrium Exploitation Rates............................................................................. 50 6.5 Recovery Goals ..................................................................................................... 54 6.6 Harvest Constraint Cannot Effect Recovery ......................................................... 56 6.7 Protecting the Diversity of the ESU ...................................................................... 58 6.8 Summary of Conservation Measures .................................................................... 59 7. MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT ................................................................... 61 7.1 Catch and Fishing Effort ....................................................................................... 61 7.2 Spawning Escapement .......................................................................................... 62 7.3 Abundance and Exploitation Rates ....................................................................... 62 7.4 Smolt Production and Survival ............................................................................. 64 7.5 Annual Management Review ................................................................................ 64 7.6 Retrospective Performance Assessment ............................................................... 65 7.7 Marine-Derived Nutrients from Salmon ............................................................... 66 7.8 Selective Effects of Fishing .................................................................................. 68 8. AMENDMENT OF THE HARVEST MANAGEMENT PLAN ......................... 69 9. GLOSSARY ............................................................................................................. 70 10. LITERATURE CITED ......................................................................................... 72 Page ii Puget Sound Chinook Harvest Management Plan APPENDIX A: MANAGEMENT UNIT STATUS PROFILES ................................ 80 Nooksack River Management Unit Status Profile .......................................................... 81 Skagit River Management Unit Status Profiles .............................................................. 94 Stillaguamish River Management Unit Status Profile .................................................. 134 Snohomish River Management Unit Status Profile ...................................................... 141 Lake Washington Management Unit Status Profile ..................................................... 160 Green River Management Unit Status Profile .............................................................. 173 White River Management Unit Status Profile .............................................................. 179 Puyallup River Fall Chinook Management Unit Status Profile ................................... 186 Nisqually River Chinook Management Unit Status Profile ......................................... 192 Skokomish River Management Unit Status Profile ...................................................... 199 Mid-Hood Canal Management Unit Status Profile ...................................................... 204 Dungeness Management Unit Status Profile ................................................................ 209 Elwha River Management Unit Status Profile ............................................................. 214 Western Strait of Juan de Fuca Management Unit Status Profile ................................ 220 APPENDIX B: TRIBAL MINIMUM FISHERIES REGIME ................................. 224 Page iii Puget Sound Chinook Harvest Management Plan List of Figures Figure 1. Commercial net and troll catch of Chinook in Puget Sound fisheries, 1980 – 2008 (WDFW LIFT database).