Oregon Forage Fish Management Plan November 19, 2016 Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Resources Program 2040 SE Marine Science Drive Newport, OR 97365 (541) 867-4741 http://www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/ Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Purpose and Need ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Federal action to protect Forage Fish (2016)............................................................................................ 7 The Oregon Marine Fisheries Management Plan Framework .................................................................. 7 Relationship to Other State Policies ......................................................................................................... 7 Public Process Developing this Plan .......................................................................................................... 8 How this Document is Organized .............................................................................................................. 8 A. Resource Analysis ..................................................................................................................................... 9 A.1. Description of the species included in the Plan ................................................................................. 9 A.2. Biological and ecological information on Forage Fish ..................................................................... 10 A.2.a. Mesopelagic fishes .................................................................................................................... 10 A.2.b. Pacific Sand Lance (Ammodytes hexapterus) ........................................................................... 13 A.2.c. Pacific saury (Cololabis saira) .................................................................................................... 13 A.2.d. Silversides (family Atherinopsidae) ........................................................................................... 14 A.2.e. Osmerid smelts ......................................................................................................................... 15 A.2.f. Pelagic Squids ............................................................................................................................ 16 A.3. Predator-prey relationships: Federally-managed FMP species and Forage Fish ............................ 18 A.3.a. Coastal Pelagic Species ............................................................................................................. 18 A.3.b. Groundfish ................................................................................................................................ 19 A.3.c. Highly Migratory Species .......................................................................................................... 21 A.3.d. Salmon ...................................................................................................................................... 23 A.4. Predator-prey relationships: Seabirds and Forage Fish ................................................................... 24 A.5 Predator-prey relationships: Marine Mammals and Forage Fish ..................................................... 24 A.5.a. Odontocetes ............................................................................................................................. 25 A.5.b. Mysticetes ................................................................................................................................. 26 A.5.c. Pinnipeds ................................................................................................................................... 27 A.6 Predator-prey relationships: Listed species and Forage Fish ........................................................... 27 A.7. Fishery-independent and fishery-dependent data .......................................................................... 28 A.7.a Mesopelagic fishes ..................................................................................................................... 28 A.7.b. Pacific sand lance ...................................................................................................................... 28 Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife 2 A.7.c. Pacific saury............................................................................................................................... 29 A.7.d. Silversides ................................................................................................................................. 29 A.7.e. Osmerid smelts ......................................................................................................................... 30 A.7.f. Pelagic squids ............................................................................................................................ 30 A.8. Threats from climate change and oceanographic factors ............................................................... 31 A.9. Threats from non-fishery sources.................................................................................................... 32 A.10. Sustainable harvest levels ............................................................................................................. 34 A.11. Information gaps and research needs ........................................................................................... 34 Table 1. Known data gaps and research needs for Forage Fish described in the Plan. ...................... 35 B. Harvest Management Strategy ............................................................................................................... 36 B.1. Management goals .......................................................................................................................... 36 B.1.a. Biological/Ecological ................................................................................................................. 36 B.1.b. Socioeconomic .......................................................................................................................... 36 B.1.c. Goals related to other fisheries management .......................................................................... 36 B.1.d. Metrics and Monitoring ............................................................................................................ 36 B.2. Current issues related to the resource ............................................................................................ 37 B.3. Analysis of Forage Fish landings ...................................................................................................... 38 Table 2. Oregon marine commercial landings (metric tons) of Forage Fish ....................................... 39 Figure 1. Oregon landings (metric tons; mt) of unspecified smelts and unspecified squids .............. 40 B.4. Social and cultural uses .................................................................................................................... 40 B.5. Biological reference points .............................................................................................................. 41 B.6. Evaluation of management tools ..................................................................................................... 41 B.6.a Federal regulations on Forage Fish ............................................................................................ 41 B.6.b. Osmerid smelts ......................................................................................................................... 41 Figure 2. Final published federal regulations ...................................................................................... 42 B.6.c. Regulatory conformance ........................................................................................................... 43 B.6.d. Monitoring ................................................................................................................................ 43 B.6.e. Allowance for new directed commercial harvest ..................................................................... 43 C. Literature cited and general reference material .................................................................................... 45 Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife 3 Executive Summary The Oregon Forage Fish Management Plan (hereafter ‘Plan’) is intended to provide active protection for a defined suite of forage fish species in Oregon marine waters. This Plan specifically pertains to commercial species that are not currently managed, regulated, or targeted by Oregon marine fisheries (hereafter ‘Forage Fish’). These protections are conveyed by a number of management tools, including prohibition of new directed commercial harvest of these species, and limiting bycatch in other fisheries. Forage Fish provide great benefit to the ecosystem as a whole and to all of Oregon’s marine finfish fisheries as an important source of prey for a wide range of species in Oregon waters. Fisheries supported by Forage Fish prey include both state and federal fisheries for groundfish, highly migratory