FY 16 Hoh Tribe Assistant Fisheries Enforcement Officer

This project continued to provide funding for the assistant fisheries enforcement officer to cover the officer’s salary, benefits, equipment and GSA-leased enforcement vehicle.

Regulated tribal fisheries were scheduled throughout the year. Random patrols took place throughout the scheduled tribal gillnet fisheries (day and/or night) with additional efforts at the beginning and end of each weekly fishery to ensure compliance. In addition, reports of illegal netting on the Hoh River must be investigated when reported.

Effective monitoring and enforcement during scheduled tribal fisheries (commercial and Ceremonial & Subsistance) help insure attainment of agreed-upon escapement goals for impacted native steelhead and salmon stocks.

Efforts between state and tribal co-managers to establish projected annual run sizes and harvest negotiations to allow agreed upon escapement levels for Hoh River native spring/summer chinook, fall coho, fall chinook and winter steelhead become ineffective without efficient, comprehensive tribal and state fisheries enforcement. Until 2013, the Hoh Tribe had only one full time fisheries enforcement officer who patrolled the lower 15 miles of the Hoh main stem, as well as other areas within the Hoh Tribe’s Usual & Accustomed Area where illegal tribal fishing might occur.