Coastal Monitoring Program

Comprehensive status and trend surveys for juvenile and adult steelhead, habitat and riparian condition and life cycle survival of coho salmon were conducted. The program data and staff were primary components of the Coastal Coho Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of coho populations and their habitats conducted to date in coastal watersheds.

ODFWs Coastal Monitoring Program is one of the agencies primary responsibilities and a key element of Oregon Plan implementation. In ODFWs Coastal Monitoring Program, biological and physical sampling is conducted to determine whether salmon habitats and populations respond as expected to conservation and restoration efforts. This program provides the baseline data to guide restoration efforts by OWEB, Watershed Councils, and other state and federal agencies. Results from this program are being used to develop recovery criteria through the NMFS Technical Review Team process and will be used to assess the status of populations relative to those criteria in the future. While it is too early to tell whether salmon habitats are responding to conservation and restoration efforts initiated under the Oregon Plan, data from ODFWs monitoring program make it clear that coho salmon populations throughout the Oregon coast are responding favorably to improved ocean conditions and reduced harvest.