USFWS Outreach/Education FY2005 Protected Salmonid Survey/Angler Outreach Project Progress Report Cooperative Agreement # 134104 Report Date: March 24, 2008 Reporting Period: November 1, 2005–December 5, 2007 Project Rationale and Objectives In recent years, Wild Fish Conservancy has received reports from recreational anglers of observed violations of no-harvest rules for trout, salmon and char in the marine waters of Washington State. Such illegal take may be significantly compromising conservation efforts, and may stem in part from confusion about the geographic range of the fishery regulations or from misidentification of protected species as harvestable salmonids. To assist in the protection of the anadromous life-history forms of these fishes, this cooperative project has developed educational signage that alerts the public about state and federal harvest restrictions on at-risk salmonids and illustrates diagnostic features to facilitate species identification in the field. The signs, installed throughout coastal Washington State, target Washington’s recreational nearshore anglers. To assess recreational fishing pressure on selected species, the project has implemented a 12-month harvest survey. The objective of the survey is to collect quantitative and qualitative information volunteered by anglers, which Wild Fish Conservancy will analyze and provide to USFWS and WDFW as feedback to assist with refinement of biologically based fishing regulations that are accessible and understandable by the public. Methods The regulatory signage utilized in this project focuses on anadromous bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) and sea-run coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki clarki) and were developed by the USFWS’s Western Washington Fish and Wildlife Office (Fig. 1). At all posting sites, the regulatory sign was accompanied by an advertisement (Fig. 2) inviting recreational saltwater anglers in Washington to participate in an online harvest survey (described below). In order to distribute the signs as broadly as possible while maintaining cost-efficiency, Wild Fish Conservancy relied on the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office’s Boating Facilities Map (available online) to identify the managers of public access areas within one mile of the state’s marine shoreline, and in the lower reaches of the Skagit and Columbia Rivers. Wild Fish Conservancy contacted the managers of 295 facilities, including ports, marinas, state, county and city parks, as well as many boat ramps managed by WDFW, to request permission to post the signage and, if possible, to have on-site volunteers perform the sign installation. Managers agreeing to participate (Appendix A) were mailed hardcopies of the signs printed on durable, water-resistant paper along with instructions to post each pair of signs side-by-side and were encouraged 1 both to maintain the signs and to re-post as necessary during the course of the project period. This approach greatly reduced Wild Fish Conservancy’s direct labor costs during the sign installation phase of the project (April–June 2007). Geographic coordinates provided by the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office were used to generate a map of all sign posting sites (see Results). Figure 1. Regulatory sign. Following page: Figure 2. Survey announcement sign. 2 Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org helpisneeded. your State'smarinewater, Washington fishrecreationallyin If you Washington’s saltwater anglers have a wealth ofknowledge fishingactivity awealth aboutrecreational inourstate. anglershave saltwater Washington’s Take the survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org thesurvey: Take Please help by recording your opinions and experiences in the Washington Saltwater AnglerSurvey. Washington inthe opinions andexperiences your recording Please helpby Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Collecting this information is critical for sustainingfishpopulationsandfishingopportunities. iscriticalfor Collecting thisinformation YOUR OPINIONSCOUNT! YOUR Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org ANGLERS: SALTWATER Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org Washington Saltwater Angler Survey: www.wildfishconservancy.org The saltwater harvest survey (Appendix B) was developed by Wild Fish Conservancy in consultation with Jeff Chan (USFWS) and Jim Uehara (WDFW) and focuses on the marine life-history forms of four salmonids: coastal cutthroat trout, bull trout, chinook salmon and coho salmon. The survey, launched online May 29, 2007 and scheduled to run through May 31, 2008, is designed to collect data on angler demographics, fish identification skills and angling practices; common catch locations in Washington marine water; and recreational harvest pressure on the target species. The survey also assesses angler knowledge of state and federal fishing restrictions and solicits opinion on the clarity of current Washington State regulations. To expand public awareness of the project and augment the opportunity for anglers to contribute information and opinions, Wild Fish Conservancy contacted numerous Washington recreational fishing clubs (Appendix A) between November 2004 and June 2007 to request assistance in advertising the harvest survey. Participating clubs agreed to disseminate the survey’s Web address via email distribution lists and member newsletters. In spring 2007 Wild Fish Conservancy further supplemented the printed advertisements (Fig. 2) by inviting survey participation on its Web site, in direct email correspondence with its membership, and via Shared Strategy’s Watershed Group’s email distribution list, as well as by posting survey announcements on Washington Fly Fishing, an active online discussion forum, and in the Environmental News section of the Pacific Northwest Salmon Center’s Web site. Results Signage Volunteer participation in sign installation was very good: 65 percent of marine access area managers contacted (193 of 295) agreed to accept, post and maintain signage at their facilities between spring 2007 and spring 2008 (Fig. 3). A total of 566 pairs of signs were mailed to these project partners; two additional pairs were installed by Wild Fish Conservancy crews. Sign posting sites ranged across Washington’s nearshore coastline, from Point Roberts south through the San Juan Islands and the Strait of Juan de Fuca; Hood Canal and north Puget Sound; the lower Skagit River from its mouth up to WDFW’s Hamilton facility above Sedro-Woolley; Lake Washington, Lake Union and Salmon Bay in Seattle; south Puget Sound; Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay; and the lower Columbia River from its mouth up to the Kalama River confluence (Fig. 4). Figure 3. Typical sign installation. Willapa National Wildlife Refuge boat ramp, July 2007. 4 Survey Data from 215 online surveys submitted between May 29 and December 5, 2007 are presented below. Respondent Demographics Survey respondents were 95% male and ranged fairly evenly from under fifteen to over sixty-five years of age (mode: 46–50) (Fig. 5). These anglers reported a broad range of experience fishing in Washington marine water: 37% with more than 30 years of experience; 32% with 10 to 30 years; and 31% with less than 10 years (mean±S.D.=24±16 years) (Fig. 6). Anglers for the most part identified themselves as living very near to Washington’s marine coastline, with the greatest concentration of respondents in Bellingham Bay, mid Puget Sound between the cities of Edmonds and Everett, and the greater Olympia area (Fig. 7). 35 30 25 20 15 10 Frequency 5 0 5 0 5 0 0 5 r 1 -20 -25 e 6 1 6-6 d 1 2 26-3 31-3 36-4 41-45 46-50 51-55 5 61-6 Un Age in Ye ars Over 65 Figure 5. Survey respondent age distribution (N=208). 50 40 30 20 Frequency 10 0 ≤5 6-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 Years Fishing in Washington Marine Water Figure 6. Survey respondent experience distribution (N=204). 6 Fish Identification Photographs of the four salmonids in their ocean-phase appearance were presented to anglers for species identification (Appendix B: survey sections 4, 9, 14 and 20). Throughout the survey, coastal cutthroat trout was labeled as “Fish 1”, bull trout as “Fish 2”, chinook salmon as “Fish 3”, and coho salmon as “Fish 4”. Angler success in identifying these species is summarized in Figure 8. Between 37 and 50% of respondents gave incorrect identifications or indicated uncertainty about the species illustrated. Cutthroat trout were most commonly mistaken for rainbow trout/steelhead (Fig. 8A: 22% of respondents) with other incorrect answers including bull trout, chinook, coho and Atlantic salmon (13% of respondents). Anglers were least successful identifying bull trout and coho salmon (Fig. 8B,D) and most successful identifying chinook