FY21 Dungeness and Strait of Juan de Fuca Streams Stock Assessments

This project supported 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 included: (a) monitoring for Coho, Steelhead and Cutthroat smolts or fry via targeted trapping efforts in the Dungeness River/tributaries 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 for use in producing salmonid escapement estimates. In partnership with co-managers, staff also tracked stream conditions and fish passage barriers due to low flow/drought to inform fish passage mitigation strategies.

This project included 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.