Harvest Management Project 2015

The Tribes completed management of the 2016 Chinook salmon fishery prior to initiating the fishing season. The fishery officially began on 31 May 2016 with the Tribal Fish and Game Commission adopting the final approved harvest guidelines and regulations. SBT TRMPs (for the Salmon, Grande Ronde, and Imnaha rivers) identify fishery management areas (FMAs) that return natural-origin Chinook salmon populations targeted for Shoshone-Bannock harvest. Each FMA was managed by an abundance-based sliding scale harvest management framework that takes into account annual population viability. The framework protects all populations from over-harvest and especially those that are functioning below the critical population threshold, as defined by the ICTRT 2007. Conversely, the framework allows flexibility to increase harvest opportunities on populations that are performing above the viable population threshold. Tribal staff attended multiple US v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meetings in fall 2015 and spring 2016 both in person and by conference call. As the run progressed from the Columbia River Mouth upstream to Bonneville and Lower Granite Dams, the Tribes were involved in discussions with TAC and Snake Basin Coordinators on run size updates, lower river fishery impacts, PIT tag detections, as well as generating forecasts for Lower Granite Dam, and individual FMAs. The TAC pre-season forecast for the Columbia River mouth equaled 188,800 age-4, age-5, and age-6 adults with a predicted 28,700 being of wild origin. The in-season Snake River hatchery forecast predicted 61,475 adults returning to project areas (as measured at Lower Granite Dam). After the pre-season forecast was finalized, Snake Basin Coordinators (IDFG, ODFW, SBT, and NPT) developed return estimates for natural adults to the entire basin (17,468 to Salmon, Clearwater, and Oregon) and individually by population (FMA). The FMA forecasts were used to generate the harvest regulations and guidelines for the Shoshone Bannock Tribes. Post season (November/December), all parties will provide their harvest take and the final estimate of Chinook salmon at the Columbia River mouth shall be generated. All parties are presumed to be within take allocation based on the US v OR management plan. Harvest unique to the SBT preliminarily indicates no excess in take for either pre-season or post-season rates. Age specific broodyear returns in 2016 will be evaluated and included in our forecast modeling matrix. The resulting analyses will allow co-managers to develop a pre-season forecast by December 2016 for spring/summer Chinook salmon to the Columbia River mouth in 2017.

Harvest guidelines will be developed using the approved abundance-based sliding-scale harvest management framework for natural-origin populations and hatchery programs, outlined in the TRMP. The harvest guidelines for natural-origin populations are developed to ensure an appropriate number of adult fish escape fisheries to spawn and reproduce. The harvest guidelines for hatchery programs are developed to ensure the hatchery programs meet their broodstock goals. If the co-managers, through TAC modify the production goals for the hatchery programs, the harvest management program will incorporate the changes in the harvest management frameworks and distribute such information accordingly.