FY 2012 Port Gamble Harvest Management and Hatchery Planning

The project supported the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe’s (PGST) harvest management. The Natural Resource Director and finfish manager worked together and participated in active harvest management efforts to provide sustainable harvest opportunity for PGST tribal fishers. The Director overlooked the entire fisheries program and developed and executed harvest management objectives that ensured fisheries that were consistent with conservation objectives in plans and initiatives guiding salmon recovery in the Hood Canal region. The finfish manager attended fisheries management meetings including the North of Falcon and Pacific Fisheries Management Council meetings to help insure that tribal/state management agreements as well as intertribal agreements are best aligned with sustainable fisheries concepts that also proactively address recovery efforts. The finfish manager also participated in the Fraser Panel meetings that address Canadian, United States and Tribal relations with the Sockeye and Pink salmon harvest. The finfish manager also managed each fishery individually to ensure each recovery plan is respected while protecting treaty rights and providing harvest opportunities to the fishermen. Annual fisheries agreements were updated and recovery plans were agreed to. We also issued annual and in-season regulations t reflect the agreed to fisheries.

This program will also funded PGST hatchery planning and management. The finfish manager participated in meetings to discuss program intents and operational concerns.

This program supported 1.5 years of harvest management and planning support and three staff members.

This project provides the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe with valuable infrastructure to effectively manage its salmonid fisheries using appropriate and sustainable strategies that address the recovery of recent Puget Sound Chinook, Puget Sound Steelhead, and Hood Canal Summer Chum ESA listings. Harvest management must be carefully balanced to achieve reasonable harvest opportunity for tribal members while working toward the sustainable recovery of these listed species back to the viable population levels. The overall benefit of participating in harvest management activities will be to help ensure that treaty and non-treaty fisheries will be conducted in compliance with conservation measures established in Puget Sound Harvest management plan, which were established to promote stock rebuilding efforts.