FY21 Dungeness and Strait of Juan de Fuca Streams Stock Assessments

This project supports the continued collection and assessment of critical stock (i.e. Chinook, coho, summer chum, and steelhead) outmigration and escapement data in the Dungeness River and other independent streams in the Eastern Straits region and is an ongoing monitoring and evaluation priority for salmon recovery. Efforts include: (a) monitoring for Coho, Steelhead and Cutthroat smolts or fry via targeted trapping efforts in the Dungeness River and other Sequim-Dungeness Watershed streams; (b) tracking number of fin-clipped smolts out-migrating from Matriotti Creek, a tributary of the Dungeness River (in partnership with WDFW’s Dungeness screw trap efforts), to inform Dungeness wild salmonid production estimates; and, (c) conducting spawning ground surveys (involving redd, live and carcass counts of adult fish) in Dungeness River, and other streams in our area of interest, if feasible, for use in producing salmonid escapement estimates. As needed and in partnership with co-managers, staff may track stream conditions for climate impacts to salmon, such as low flow or temperature blockages to migrating salmonids for the purpose of developing adaptation strategies.



This project includes the following worksites and [worktypes]:

Jimmycomelatey: [smolt monitoring];

Mattriotti: [smolt monitoring];

Siebert: [smolt monitoring];

McDonald: [smolt monitoring];

Bell: [smolt monitoring]; and

Dungeness: [Adult pop. monitoring (live counts), redd counts, carcass counts, and smolt monitoring].

Smolt trap monitoring efforts will allow us to continue assessing juvenile salmon production and migration patterns within these streams. Spawning ground surveys provides a continuous (multi-year) evaluation tool, and they, along with smolt trapping, are essential for measuring and tracking overall salmon abundance, productivity, escapement, as well as numerical trends in the Tribe’s area of interest. This information also informs the Tribe’s stream habitat, restoration, and water quality planning programs.