UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE West Coast Region 1201 NE Lloyd Boulevard, Suite 1100 PORTLAND, OREGON 97232 May 25, 2021 Dear Recipient: In accordance with provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act, we announce the availability for review of the Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA) for Amendment 21 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) will also publish a Notice of Availability for the DEA and the amendment in the Federal Register. The proposed action is to amend the FMP to include management measures to allow increased access to prey and foraging opportunities for Southern Resident killer whales. The document is accessible electronically through the following website: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/laws-and-policies/west-coast-region-national-environmental- policy-act-documents. Additionally, this DEA, the Federal Register notice, and amendment documents provided by the Pacific Fishery Management Council will be accessible electronically through the following website upon publication of the Federal Register notice: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/amendment-21- pacific-coast-salmon-fishery-management-plan. Written comments may be submitted to NMFS via the Federal eRulemaking portal at www.regulations.gov as described in the Federal Register notice. The public comment period on the DEA will be concurrent with the 60-day public comment period for the Notice of Availability, specified in the Federal Register notice. Complete instructions for submitting comments will be provided in the Federal Register notice. Thank you in advance for your input and assistance in finalizing the Environmental Assessment. Sincerely, Barry A. Thom Regional Administrator DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AMENDMENT 21 TO THE PACIFIC COAST SALMON FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN: SALMON FISHERY MANAGEMENT MEASURES TO ALLOW FOR PREY AVAILABILITY AND FORAGING OPPORTUNITIES FOR SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES (REGULATORY TRACKING IDENTIFIER NUMBER: 0648-XA696) May 2021 Lead Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service West Coast Regional Office Lacey, Washington Responsible Official: Barry A. Thom Regional Administrator West Coast Regional Office For further Information contact: Jeromy Jording 510 Desmond Drive SE Suite 103 Lacey, WA 98503 360-763-2268 [email protected] ii Draft EA for Salmon FMP Amendment 21 April 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Tables ............................................................................................................................................ iv Table of Figures ........................................................................................................................................... vi Acronym List ............................................................................................................................................. viii 1.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Proposed Action ................................................................................................................................ 6 1.3 Purpose and Need ............................................................................................................................. 6 1.4 Scope of Action ................................................................................................................................. 7 1.5 Analysis Area .................................................................................................................................... 7 1.6 Public Involvement ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.0 Description of Alternatives ............................................................................................................. 10 2.1 Alternative 1 – No-Action - Status Quo Fishery Management Plan Implementation ..................... 10 2.2 Alternative 2 – Abundance Threshold Alternative of 966,000 Chinook salmon (Preferred Alternative) ................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Alternative 3 – Abundance Threshold Alternative of 1,144,000 Chinook salmon ......................... 18 2.4 Alternatives considered but not further analyzed ............................................................................ 20 3.0 Affected Environment ..................................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Water Quality .................................................................................................................................. 25 3.2 Fish & Fisheries .............................................................................................................................. 26 3.3 Marine Mammals ............................................................................................................................ 33 3.4 Socioeconomics .............................................................................................................................. 52 3.5 Cultural Resources .......................................................................................................................... 54 3.6 Environmental Justice ..................................................................................................................... 54 4.0 Environmental Impacts of Alternatives .......................................................................................... 56 4.1 Alternative 1 – No Action - Status Quo Fishery Management Plan Implementation ..................... 56 4.2 Alternative 2 (Preferred Alternative) .............................................................................................. 64 4.3 Alternative 3 .................................................................................................................................... 72 4.4 Summary ......................................................................................................................................... 80 5.0 Cumulative Effects .......................................................................................................................... 83 5.1 Past, Present, and Reasonably Foreseeable Actions and Conditions .............................................. 83 6.0 References ....................................................................................................................................... 87 iii Draft EA for Salmon FMP Amendment 21 April 2021 TABLE OF TABLES Table 1-1. Summary of PFMC Salmon Fishery Areas ................................................................................. 2 Table 1-2. Meetings of the Pacific Fishery Management Council and the SRKW Workgroup during development of the alternatives analyzed in this draft EA. .......................................................................... 9 Table 2-1. List of SRKW Workgroup management responses implemented in Alternative 2. .................. 17 Table 2-2. List of SRKW Workgroup management responses implemented in Alternative 3. .................. 20 Table 2-3. List of alternatives analyzed, and considered by the Council but not forwarded further for analysis with accompanying rationale. ....................................................................................................... 21 Table 3-1. Affected environment resources identified in initial scoping for the Proposed Action. ............ 25 Table 3-2. Listing Status of ESA-Listed Chinook Salmon Evolutionary Significant Units ....................... 27 Table 3-3. Average Annual Chinook salmon abundance at the beginning Time Step (TS) 1 in Washington, Oregon, and California (from Appendix A). ......................................................................... 29 Table 3-4. Average Chinook salmon abundance after fishery removals in each TS (season) in Washington, Oregon, and California (from Appendix A). ......................................................................... 30 Table 3-5. Average Chinook salmon catch by TS (season) in Washington, Oregon, and California (from Appendix A)................................................................................................................................................ 31 Table 3-6. Satellite-linked tags deployed on Southern resident killer whales 2012 to 2016 (Hanson et al. 2018). This was part of a collaborative effort between NWFSC, Cascadia Research Collective, and the University of Alaska. .................................................................................................................................. 39 Table 3-7. West coast (WA, OR, CA) income impacts from recreational and commercial ocean salmon fisheries from 2010 through 2019 (PFMC 2017). ....................................................................................... 52 Table 3-8. Environmental justice communities and resources considered in this draft EA. ....................... 56 Table 4-1. Average Chinook Salmon catch by TS (season) in Washington,