FY 2021 Skokomish River Salmon and Steelhead Stock Assessments

Funding will provide support for a steelhead biologist and finfish technician. Staff will conduct spawning ground surveys (including visual, redd and carcass counts) and collect biological data for adult Chinook, coho, chum & pink salmon and steelhead in the Skokomish River system. While this project is geared at collecting data the information will ultimately be used to develop adult escapement estimates, determine hatchery versus wild interaction, and quantify age structure. Surveys will also complement 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 will also be conducted to estimate smolt production of Chinook, coho, chum and steelhead. A screw trap will be 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 includes 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.