Partnerships in Science: A New Era in Salmon Recovery Click here to download PDF Format - 3.7MB Washington salmonid populations listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (As of June 2000) Endangered Snake River sockeye Listed November 1991 Upper Columbia steelhead Listed August 1997 Upper Columbia spring chinook Listed March 1999 Threatened Snake River spring/summer chinook Listed April 1992 Snake River fall chinook Listed April 1992 Snake River steelhead Listed August 1997 Lower Columbia steelhead Listed March 1998 Columbia/Snake River bull trout Listed June 1998 Hood Canal summer chum Listed March 1999 Lower Columbia chum Listed March 1999 Lake Ozette sockeye Listed March 1999 Puget Sound chinook Listed March 1999 Lower Columbia chinook Listed March 1999 Middle Columbia steelhead Listed March 1999 Coastal/Puget Sound bull trout Listed November 1999 For more information see the WDFW Salmon Recovery Website

Partnerships in Science: A New Era in Salmon Recovery Introduction The Pierce Conservation District clearly did its homework before seeking state funding to restore an off-channel lake as a rearing area for young coho and chinook salmon on the Puyallup River system. Using a new map-based data system known as “SSHIAP,” the district was able to demonstrate both the shortage of rearing areas on the Puyallup and the advantages of restoring the lake to address that problem. The state Salmon Recovery Funding Board, convinced by the evidence, funded the project and the conservation district hopes to begin work in the summer of 2001. SSHIAP – the Salmon and Steelhead Habitat Inventory and Assessment Project – is just one example of a new generation of scientific tools developed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and tribal co-managers to support Washington’s statewide salmon recovery effort. Male sockeye salmon on spawning grounds Some of those tools, such as mass marking hatchery salmon and using hatcheries as rescue stations for depleted stocks, were designed specifically to support our work as fisheries managers. Others, including SSHIAP, have much broader application to habitat-restoration groups and other partners in the salmon recovery effort throughout the state. This report describes how WDFW, in concert with treaty tribes and other resource managers, is using science to shape a new era of salmon conservation through advances in harvest practices, hatchery operations and habitat restoration. Hydro operations – the fourth “h” of salmon recovery – are discussed in the habitat section along with efforts to correct impassible culverts and other obstructions to fish passage. These developments come at a critical time for our state. With 15 salmon and trout stocks in Washington listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA), a major statewide recovery effort is now underway involving everyone from fisheries managers and local salmon recovery groups to public utility managers and private landowners. WDFW is pleased to be a major partner in this effort, although it would be a mistake to view the initiatives discussed in this publication as simply a response to ESA listings. Many of these changes were underway long before the first listing was announced in 1992, while others have been developed to address specific management goals in the field. For example: Coded wire tag technology was pioneered by WDFW scientists back in the early 1970s to help track the migration of hatchery-produced salmon in the open ocean and monitor the survival rates of various stocks. This 30-year-old technology is now more useful than ever, providing historical trends and helping fisheries managers set fishing seasons that protect wild salmon. Mass marking of hatchery salmon, which began with coho in 1996 and is now being expanded to some chinook stocks, allows fishers to tell on sight whether a fish originated in a hatchery or in the wild. This was a major step forward in establishing selective fisheries that protect wild salmon while allowing fishers to harvest abundant hatchery stocks. In 1977, long before the stock was listed under the ESA, WDFW captured about 50 returning White River spring chinook salmon and moved them to a state hatchery to guard against immediate extinction. This year, 800 adults returned, more than the previous 20 years combined, an indication of how much time it can take to recover a depleted stock. More than a third of all WDFW hatcheries are now involved one way or another in helping to protect and recover wild salmon stocks. Chinook Salmon A New Era in Salmon Recovery provides an overview of these and other initiatives to help develop a broader public understanding of WDFW’s role in the salmon-recovery process. While this publication makes frequent reference to partnerships between state and tribal co-managers and other resource managers, it does not attempt to catalogue all of their many individual efforts to protect and restore wild salmon runs. Rather, it focuses on the scientific tools and recovery strategies this agency is employing in the statewide recovery effort. One theme that emerges from these pages – perhaps above all others – is that recovering our native salmon populations is a shared responsibility. Harvest management requires cooperation between the states, the tribes and all affected citizens. Hatchery reform can only progress so far without the funding needed to make the necessary improvements at the 143 state, tribal and federal facilities in this state. And restoring critical habitat area to a functional condition that can support healthy runs of wild salmon will require the participation of governments, businesses and individuals throughout the state. The goal of this agency is not just to restore native salmon stocks to the point where the federal government will remove them from the list of ESA-protected species. Our goal, consistent with both our legislative mandate and the Governor’s Salmon Recovery Strategy, is to help revitalize those stocks to the point where they, and sustainable fisheries, can once again thrive. Salmon are not just a symbol of the Northwest. They are also an indicator of our environmental health, an important sector of our economy and a cornerstone of our culture. Through science and public support, WDFW is working to sustain all these values and preserve our native salmon runs for generations to come. Jeffrey Koenings, Ph.D, Director Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife