FY 2020 Skokomish River Salmon and Steelhead Stock Assessments

Funding provided support for a steelhead biologist and finfish technician. The staff conducted spawning ground surveys, including visual, redd and carcass counts, and collected biological data for adult Chinook, coho, chum & pink salmon and steelhead in the Skokomish River system. The project was geared towards collecting data, and the information was ultimately used to develop adult escapement estimates, determine hatchery versus wild interaction, and quantify age structure. Surveys also complemented standardized index area surveys to provide improved understanding of spawning abundance and distribution of steelhead as part of the NMFS Northwest Fisheries Science Center-directed supplementation study in the Hood Canal region. Juvenile salmonid surveys were also conducted to estimate smolt production of Chinook, coho, chum, and steelhead. A screw trap was operated in the South Fork to monitor Chinook, coho, and chum salmon and steelhead smolt outmigration timing and abundance and to estimate juvenile survival rates. Additional steelhead work included snorkel surveys and hook & line sampling to provide biometric, genetic, age, and life history data.

This project will provide long-term abundance, distribution, and survival data for salmon species. This information is vital for proper harvest management, recovery planning, and habitat management and research projects.



Conditions of a permit issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to the City of Tacoma to operate the Cushman Hydroelectric Project include the construction of hatcheries, introduction of new salmon stocks, and the return of normative flows to the river. This emphasizes the need to sustain monitoring all reaches of the river to determine the effectiveness of the changes.



Continued Skokomish Tribal participation is key to the success of the Hood Canal Steelhead Supplementation Study. This 15-year study, the first of its kind in Puget Sound, will generate new information on the structure of steelhead populations in the Hood Canal region, and assess the effectiveness of innovative hatchery supplementation methods utilizing naturally spawned production to enhance natural populations of steelhead and maintain genetic diversity.