FY 2020 Upper Skagit Tribal Adult Chinook Population Monitoring

The project supported three distinct approaches to monitoring Skagit Chinook abundance, run timing, escapement, and impacts on Chinook stocks in various terminal fisheries. These efforts aimed to support the collection of data required to manage fisheries efficiently and monitor ESA recovery goal expectations.



The three separate actions included terminal test fisheries, spawning ground surveys, and tribal catch sampling, which involved biological sampling and mark status sampling, including CWT collection. Test fisheries were conducted in the Skagit River once a week from June to the end of July. Standardizing test fishery catch effort by area, time, and gear provided an effective method for monitoring Chinook recovery implementation.



Spawner surveys, which consisted of redd and carcass counts, were carried out in tributaries of the Skagit and Skagit mainstem from September through November. These surveys helped estimate escapement estimates, indicator stock production, and biological age information.



The third component this program supported was catch sampling of tribal fisheries. Tribal fisheries were monitored and sampled from May through November when Chinook interceptions were most likely to occur. These funds supported a portion of one biologist and three fish technicians.

Monitoring actions arise from need to evaluate the success of restoration, protection, hatchery and harvest actions in reaching recovery goals. The tribes’ programmatic monitoring program focuses on biological monitoring of returning adults at the basin scale. Three separate components are utilized to address the population viability assessment; test fisheries in the lower river, catch monitoring and sampling of all terminal fisheries, and spawning ground surveys. Chapter 16 Monitoring Actions in the Skagit Recovery Plan identifies these components and how data from these efforts are used for testing conditions and recovery assumptions. The data collected in these efforts are shared with basin co-managers to monitor fundamental population metrics for example but not limited to; the development of six independent population escapement estimates, timing and distribution of run, age composition data, hatchery and wild and CWT group composition of the run, population fitness, percent of juvenile life history strategy in adults, spawner recruit analysis, encounter rates, catch and harvest distribution between fisheries, and total exploitation rates. Age and CWT information is needed annually to monitor fishery management objectives, without these funds this critical information would lag years behind the need to shape international, national, and terminal fisheries on annual return year basis.