I ANADROMOUSGAME FISH INVESTIGATIONS IN WASHINGTON July 1, 1995- June30, 1996 PROGRESSREPORT NumberAF97-01 ProjectNo. F-75-R SegmentNo.11 ContractNo.l4-16-0001-83-403 Submiuedto the U.S. Fish andWildlife Service Under FederalAid in Fish RestorationProgram Fish ManagementProgram Stateof Washington Departnentof Fish andWildlife !a "ir r *' TABLEOF CONTENTS LISTOFTABLES ........ ii LISTOFFIGURES ...... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.. ..., iV Study 1 - Job 1 EstimateSteelhead Spawning Escapement for Major Streamsin PugetSound, the WashingtonCoast and the Lower ColumbiaRiver 1 Study1 - Job2 Harvestor SpecializedSteelhead Management Planning J Study I - Job3 SportHarvest of Steelhead 4 Determinesport harvest of steelheadon surveyedrivers in the Boldt CaseArea 4 Determinesport harvest of steelheadon riversnot surveyed,steelhead catch card returns, marked/unmarkedsport anglerharvest ) Steelheadlicense and catchrecord card changes . 7 Study I - Job4 Monitor TreatyIndian Fishing Regulations and Anadromous Game Fish Harvest. 8 Study 1 - Job5 Long-TermAnadromous Game Fish Plans 8 PugetSound 8 Coast ... .. 10 ColumbiaRiver ........1 0 Studyl-Job6 AnadromousGameFishSportFishingRegulations... ........ 1I Study1-Job7 Sea-RunCutthroatPopulationMonitoring ........ I2 Studyl-Job8 GeneticStockldentification... ....... 16 APPENDICES.. ........17 LITERATURECITED ........5 8 :, 'j *1 :FTp' :..r - LISTOF TABLES :.,.:}:.. Tablel., $teelheadspawningescapementestimates-lgg6 ..... l Table2. Final estimateof winter steelheadsport angler harvest from WashingtonDepartruent of Fish andWildlifecreelsurveys,lggs-96 .....5 Table3. Final estimateof winter steelheadsport angler effort from WashingtonDepartment of Fish and Wildlifecreelsurveys,1995-96 ....6 Table4. Stillaguamishsea-run cutthroat based on lengthfrequency information from hookandlinesampling ....; 13 Table5. Skagitsea-nrn cutthroat based on lengthfrequency information from hook andlinesampling ..... l3 Table6. Countsof wild winter steelhead,wild summersteelhead and coastal cutthroat collectedat North Fork ToutleRiver CollectionFacility l6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS a The informationprovided in this report is a summaryof efforts by the principal investigatorsand a numberof otherdedicated individuals who work in the WashingtonDepartuent of Fish andWildlife's FishManagement Program. David Smithwas responsible torfor steelhead catch record cardcarr support and for monitoring tribal harvests ffiiiiffiT;ff#lonstble Curt Kraemer,Steve Foley, Tom Cropp,and Thom Johnsonwere responsible for anadromousgame fish managementthroughout the PugetSound area. JavHunter were responsible foranadromous same fish management forthe ilffi11"?tT::f,Washingtoncoast. Dan Rawdingand,to Donna Hale were res.responsiblefor anadromousgame fish managementfor the columbia ilTH;:: JohnSneva and Larry Tsunodawere responsible for statewidesteelhead scale analysis. Lilith swope-Lysistrata,LanvLaty rsunodaTsunoda and Peterpeter Hahn were responsible for generatingeeneratine the statewidestatewic iliTirffi".1t#:1Xa:a, lv LlSTOF FIGURES Figure1 StillaguamishRiversea-runcutthroatsampling1978and 1991 through 1995 .......l4 Figure2 SkagitRiver sea-nmcutthroat sampling 1994and, tggs . l5 iii Table I continued. Steelhead estimates- 1996 Ilatchery SH WiH SH Wild SH Escapement Stream or River System Escrpement Escapement Goal HammaHamma River g3 DosewallipsRiver 55 Strait ofJuan de Fuca Snow Creek 139 DungenessRiver I 533 27?l Gray Wolf River 1nRl 96: McDonaldCreek 8l Morse Creek 89 r20 Salt Creek 1t1l l37l Lyre River Rl 1,3 571 EastTwin River 55' g6l WestTwin River lt2l l03l DeepCreek 2031 PyshtRiver 284 200 Hoko River 667 400 Coast QuillayuteRiver System l5,l9l 5,900 Quillayute/Bogachiel 2,208 1,127 Sol Duc River 6.84s 2.910 CalawahRiver 5,559 1,740 Dickey River 580 123 HumptulipsRiver 1.454 1,600 HoquiamRiver 802 450 ChehalisRiver Systern 6,783 8.600 CedarRiver 0 North River/Smith Creek 248 2 Willapa River System 460 Palix System 8? 2 NemahRiver System 291 NaselleRiver 892 Bear River 255 Lower ColumbiaRiver Area KalamaRiver t,ori 1,000 EastFork Lewis River 2041 WashougalRiver 520' Grays River (trib estimatesonly) 2033 1,486 SkamokawaCreek rl2 227 ElochomanRiver (trib estimatesonly) 523 626 Abcrnathy Creek l6 306 GermanyCreek 40 CoweemanRiver (trib estimatesonly) U3 1.064'2 North Fork Toutle River 251 South Fork Toutle River (trib est. only) 150: 1,058 Wind River 1.55?D.1.00010 Study1 -Job 1 Estimatesteelhead spawning Escapementfor Major Streamsin PugetSound, the WashingtonCoast and the Lower ColumbiaRiver Spawningescapement estimates and escapement goals for riverssurveyed in 1996are shown in Table l. Surveyswere conducted by WashingtonDepartment of Fish andWildlife regionaland headquarters personnel.some systems were surveyed in cooperationwith tribal biologicalstaffs. Estimates of total spawningescapement for otherstreams were calculated from the estimatednumber of reclds in the mainstems,the total numberof reddscounted in the tributaries,and the estimatednumber of reddsspawned in unsurveyedareas. By multiplyingthe numberof reddsby the numberof femalesper redd,an estimateof spawninefemales can be derived. Thereis no informationavailable on femalesper reddfor the river systemssurieved. However,this figure hasbeen computed for fish spawningabove fish countingweirs on Snowani SalmonCreeks (.81 femalesper redd) Oncethe numberof femaleshad been calculated, an estimateof maleswas computed usins the sexratio observedinthesportsfisheryoral:1 ratiowasused. Weather dtlringthe 1996wild winter steelheadspawning period (March.through June) was generallvooor throughoutthe PugetSound, Washington Coast and Lower Columbiaareas. Abor" uro.runJor.cioiation f9a!ing to high river flows maderedd detection diffrcult andshortened redd life. poor *.itnLr rondition, limited the effectivenessof helicopterflights in collectinginformation. During the peakspawnine period of late April andearly May floodingwashed out reddsin westem washington. Table 1. Steelheadspawning escapement estimates - lgg6. llatchery SH wild sH WiH SH Escrpement Stream or River System Escapement Escapcnent Goal Nonn Pugetsound NooksackRiver System 2 Mainstem/i.{orthFork 19.8Redds/mi 2 SouthFork 19.9Redds/mi 2 Middle Fork l-7 Redds/mi SamishRiver 792 700 SkagitRiver System 10,300 SkagitRiver Mainstem 33.0Redds/mi SaukRiver 31.4Redds/mi N.F. StillaguamishRiver 1,092. g30l SnohomishRiver System 6,500 PilchuckRiver 538 SnoqualmieRiver 19.4Redds/mi HoodCanal SkokomishRiver 1,400 TahuyaRiver 92 Bq Union River lg8 DewattoRiver 39 r38 developingthe 1996preseason runsize estimates for hatcheryand wild steelheadand made recommendationsfor the developmentof appropriatefishing seasonsbased on guidelinesestablished in the ColumbiaRiver Fish ManagementPlan. During 1996TAC initiateda speciesreview for summerand winter steelhead.Dan wasresponsible for the "Winter SteelheadSpecies Revie#'and providedcomments regarding the "summer Steelhead SpeciesRevie#'. Final reportswere completed in DecemberI996. Study 1 - Job 3 Sport Haruestof Steelhead o Determinesport hawest of steelheadon surveyedrivers in the Boldt CaseArca. Creelsurveys for the 1995-96winter steelheadseason were conducted on threeriver systems,the Green,Quillayute, and Snohomish. Creel survey personnel collected data on anglereffort, successand time fished(trip length),as well as scalesfor ageanalysis, sex, length, weight, and fin marks. Data on river and weatherconditions which influencedangler effort and successwere also recorded. Creelsurvey methodology was essentially the sameas that employedsince 1977 and is describedin paststeelhead program progress reports (June 30,1979 Quarterly Report, pages 10-56 and June 30, 1978Quarterly Report, pages 5-56). Steelheadanglers on the surveyedrivers harvested an estimated9,951 winter steelheadduring the 1995-96season based on effort andcatch estimates calculated biweekly (Tables 2 and3). This wasa 23.5percent decrease in harvestover the 1994-95season, for the samethree surveyed rivers. During the creelsurvey time periodan estimated642winter steelheadwere taken from the GreenRiver, 4,275 from the QuillayuteRiver system,and 5,034 from the SnohomishRiver system.These estimates are consideredto be the total sportharvest of winter steelheadfor the time the rivers' were being surveyed. With the delay in completingthe statewidesport winter steelheadhawest sunmary (seenext section) for 1995-96,the tabledisplaying and comparing past sport winter steelheadharvests on creelsunreyed riverswill be includedin next year'sannual report. o Determinesport haruestof steelheadon rivers not surveyed,steelhead catch cerd returns, and marked/unmarkedsport angler hawest. All personsfishing for steelheadin Washington,except treaty Indiens,are requiredto possessa valid steelheadcatch record card. Immediatelyupon taking and retaininga steelheadmore than 20 inchesin length,the holder of the card must enterin the correspondingspace the dateof the harvestand the code of the water wherethe fish was taken. Cardsare valid from May lst of onecalendar year through April 30thof the following calendaryear. By statute,every person possessing a steelheadfishing catchrecord card must" by June1, following the time period for which it was issued,retum the cardto an authorizedlicensed dealer or the Departmentof Fish andWildlife. 4 Table I continued.Steelhead estimates- 1996 Streamor River I Escapementand goal for indexarea only. No escapementgoal established. Estimateshould be considereda minimumdue to poor visibility. 4 Preliminaryestimate subject to revision. Escapementgoal