FY 14 Skokomish Salmon Harvest Management

The Finfish Program Manager completed various preseason and postseason analyses/reports, and focused on Preseason Salmon Forecasting Management Activities and North of Falcon (NOF) Fishery Planning Process. In addition to these, was involved in the preparation of annual reports, planning documents, drafting and subsequent filing of fishing regulations, and work related to bottomfish/groundfish and all salmon species, including listed Chinook salmon as well as inter-agency work designed to improve management tools. More specifically, the following is an outline of the more significant activities undertaken for stocks and fisheries within the Skokomish Tribe’s Usual and Accustomed (U&A) fishing area:

• Coordinated the management approaches between the other Hood Canal Treaty Tribes, through meetings held with the other member tribes’ fishery managers, NWIFC, WDFW, NOAA fisheries, Puget Sound Partnership, and the Hood Canal Coordinating Council.
• Participated in policy/legal/technical meetings to discuss the mediation process for fishery management planning.
• Participated as a workgroup member in the development of Skokomish River Chinook Recovery Plan.
• Participated as a workgroup member in the development of Skokomish River “Late-Timed” Chinook Management Plan.
• Continued participation in the meetings, discussions, and work tasks of the joint workgroup tasked with the upgrading of the fishery regulation assessment model (FRAM) for Chinook as well as coho salmon. These tasks have been developed as part of the comprehensive coho / PST coho / selective fisheries concerns.
• Continued work on the Skokomish River Chinook Recovery Management Plan (RMP) development and on-going review of the Puget Sound Chinook Harvest Management Plan and Stocks of Concerns reports for NOAA.
• Continued to participate in the Chinook salmon recovery planning group, tasked with the development of an updated harvest plan, for submission to the NMFS. This has required numerous data analyses, evaluation of management options, and the review of draft documents.
• Tracked and met monthly/quarterly reporting requirements as per the Tacoma Public Utility contracts and contract vendors for Skokomish River Chinook Recovery Chapter Update.

This position provides technical capability essential to executing the Tribe’s mandated role in co-management of salmon and steelhead fisheries. Technical analyses inform the policy decisions taken by Tribal Council and other policy-level representatives. Scientific expertise comprises the basis for sound and conservative harvest management. Management of three listed salmonids – Chinook, steelhead, and summer chum – has taken on additional complexity, to ensure that tribal members have continued opportunity to exercise their treaty-reserved fishery rights on hatchery Chinook, coho and fall chum.