FY 2020 Implementation and Monitoring of Skagit Salmon Recovery Goals: Harvest Management

During this time we attended weekly co-manager meetings to coordinate monitoring needs within the Skagit. Co-managers present included: Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, Sauk-Suiattle Tribe and Swinomish Indian Tribal Community. SRSC updated the co-managers regarding test fisheries, brood stocking and spawn ground surveys. Co-managers requested SRSC supported additional spawn ground surveys for Chinook Salmon and Chum Salmon to fill gaps in monitoring coverage because of staff issues and provided additional surveys to address federal review of harvest practices. We have conducted Chinook salmon run reconstruction for 2021 and 2022. We continue to support monitoring on the Cascade River to protect Cascade River Spring Chinook population, review of comanager and NOAA plans to address hatchery straying. We evaluated Chinook salmon escapement estimates compared to escapement goals. We additionally developed a multi-stage model for Skagit River Chinook to better evaluate the spawner recruit relationship and drivers of population dynamics. This may be further developed into a preseason forecast tool for improved harvest management.

The limiting factor that this project addresses is harvest, and the purpose of the project is to provide the information that allows managers to conduct fisheries on harvestable fish, with low enough impacts that harvest is removed as a limiting factor on species recovery. Achieving project objectives will insure that impacts of annually-negotiated fisheries regimes achieve the management reference points for all salmon stocks returning to the Skagit River system, including escapement and harvest objectives outlined in local resource management plans and harvest limits outlined in Chinook and Coho AABM Agreements of the Pacific Salmon Treaty, and are therefore low enough to meet abundance based management reference points for Chinook and steelhead to recover to delisting levels (as long as complementary habitat and artificial production actions are taken) and for Puget Sound coho, chum, sockeye, and pinks to remain at healthy levels. Finally, this project will allow us to map progress toward Chinook recovery and will enable timely implementation of management actions in light of significant changes in stock productivity.



Because harvest could potentially be a significant limiting factor to the maintenance of productivity levels required by Recovery Plans of ESA listed Pacific salmon, all project objectives provide critical information required for responsible management of harvestable fish stocks in the Skagit.