Help Prevent the Collapse of Olympic Peninsula Steelhead

The Olympic Peninsula is home to the last great native populations of winter steelhead in Washington State. The fish are unique because of their large size, with some individuals exceeding the rarified 30lb mark.  Although the populations were considered "healthy" by the State of Washington when they were last reviewed, they have experienced a long-term decline in abundance. Declines have occurred despite these populations occupying watersheds containing the most intact habitat on the coast of California, Oregon and Washington.  The populations may be resilient, but their declines necessitate proactive and precautionary changes to management to avoid further declines and listing under the Endangered Species Act.   

The Olympic Peninsula is one of three regions left not listed under the Endangered Species Act but with the current downward trends, it could be listed soon. 

Do your part as an angler and Sign the Petition. 

We ask that the Statewide Steelhead Management Plan that was adopted by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission in 2008 be enacted this year.  Some specific examples might include:

•MSH escapement goals were developed in the 1980’s and included several assumptions that we now know are false—a reevaluation of escapement goals and Olympic Peninsula steelhead population dynamics is needed.

•MSH escapement targets should incorporate uncertainty in run sizes and harvest rates to ensure a high probability of goals being met despite poor monitoring data

•Efforts should be made to test assumptions in measuring escapements and harvest rates to ensure fisheries management reflects actual population biology and is not systematically inaccurate.

•Although MSH is the court-ordered co-management objective, the state is free to do what it wishes with its portion of the catch—Washington should be managing its portion of the catch with conservation as its first objective as is mandated by the mission statement of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

•Mandatory catch and release of wild steelhead in sport fisheries would preserve fishing opportunity while ensuring better conservation of declining wild stocks.

•More widespread use of Selective Gear Rules for both commercial and sport particularly in times and places where few hatchery fish are present, or in where large numbers of resident rainbows and juveniles steelhead are handled, would better protect wild steelhead by increasing the survival of released fish.

•Increased monitoring and enforcement for sport and commercial (tribal) fisheries would ensure compliance with existing regulations and accurate data for fisheries management

•In-season management would allow fisheries to be proactively shut down or effort reduced if in-season creel data from sport of tribal commercial fisheries suggested escapement goals were unlikely to be met

•Wild steelhead gene banks need to be established in multiple watersheds—preferably in the largest and healthiest watersheds which have the highest probability of supporting self-sustaining, abundant, and productive steelhead populations into the future.

*Forming public work groups with a diverse group of stakeholders to identify Wild Steelhead Management Zones

*Accountability for gill net by-catch drop out and mortality of kelts and ripe fish.  Must be part of commercial catch quota .

•Establish limited entry or a quota of "fishing from a boat rod days" in certain sections of river for guides and non-guided anglers. ( tag systems in sensitive holding areas)

*Require a special endorsement for guides to limit the extent of guiding on the Olympic Peninsula rivers. 

If we make some changes and sacrifices we can prevent the collapse of the Olympic Peninsula steelhead.  If we don't we can expect further listings under the Endangered Species Act and further loss of fishing opportunity and hard economic hit to rural communities. 

It is essential that the State, the ONP, and the Tribal co-managers work together to come up with a recovery plan that puts the health of these fish populations first. If we all take care of wild fish, wild fish will take care of us.

Federally Funded Hatchery's - A Big Broblem

Federal court dismisses suit against Elwha hatchery; tribe drops nonnative steelhead stocking plan

A federal judge has dismissed a suit against the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe’s hatchery plan as moot, and the tribe has terminated its plan to stock the Elwha with nonnative steelhead.

By Lynda V. Mapes

Seattle Times staff reporter

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Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times, 2011

The new Elwha Tribal fish hatchery on the Elwha reservation is to be used to supplement populations of fish that naturally recolonize the river as habitat becomes available.

The Elwha is at the center of the region’s long-running debate on hatcheries and their role in salmon recovery. A $325 million federal recovery project for the river is now under way, with one dam out of the river and another soon gone in the largest dam-removal project in history. With so much at stake, hatchery plans for the fish-recovery effort drew fire early.

Litigation was flying before the first chunks of concrete even came out. Advocates for wild fish filed notice of intent to sue in September 2011 over the new $16 million hatchery built as part of the recovery project. But portions of the lawsuit, filed in March against the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, were thrown out last week by Benjamin Settle, U.S. District Court judge for the Western District in Tacoma. 

Settle found that the suit was moot because, since the suit was filed, the tribe had obtained permits from federal fisheries officials to carry out programs at its hatchery, leaving no question to settle. 

“It speaks for itself,” said the tribe’s lawyer, Steven Suagee. “The initial complaint had been that the tribe didn’t have the approvals for these hatchery programs, and now we do.“

The new hatchery is to be used to supplement populations of fish that naturally recolonize the river as habitat becomes available. Ultimately, taking two dams out of the river will reopen 70 miles of habitat in the Elwha to salmon and steelhead spawning. But dam removal also is letting loose huge amounts of sediment, trapped behind the dams for a century. As the water gets muddy, the hatchery also is intended to provide a safe-harbor gene bank for four populations of fish listed for protection in the river, including steelhead. 

The tribe backed away from one of the programs it sought to run at its hatchery: stocking Chambers Creek steelhead, which, while not native to the Elwha, have provided a fishing opportunity for tribal fishermen for years as native stocks in the Elwha declined because of the dams. 

With the dams coming out, however, wild-fish advocates no longer wanted the nonnative fish stocked in the river. The tribe, while not conceding that the fish cause harm to wild stocks, announced in December to federal officials that it has ended its Chambers Creek program and will not be reviving it.

Instead, tribal members will mop up the fish returning from its last release from the hatchery in 2011 until no more of the nonnative fish come back. That will serve the needs both to avoid crossbreeding of the nonnative fish with fragile, rebuilding native runs and to provide a small fishing opportunity for the tribe.

A moratorium is in effect on fishing in the river for five years while populations rebuild. The tribe is negotiating with federal fisheries officials to be able to fish native Elwha steelhead after the moratorium even if those fish are still listed for protection under the Endangered Species Act, if doing so does not set back recovery.

Suagee said that those talks are still ongoing and that nothing is final.
Kurt Beardslee, of the Wild Fish Conservancy, said the nonprofit, which took the lead in the suit, intends to appeal.
Meanwhile, dam removal is on hold until repairs are made to a water-treatment plant built as part of the recovery project that clogged with leaves, sticks and mud during the first fall rains. The plant has not been providing the level of water quality expected nor functioning as planned.

Repairs are expected to put off resumption of work until at least April.
Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com

Are Wild Chinook becoming Extinct on the Sandy River

Hatchery Chinook on Still Creek

The last two weeks of September I spent my time on a few Sandy River tributaries such as Still Creek, Zig Zag, and the Salmon River conducting spawning surveys for Chinook. What I saw was a sad state of afare for wild Chinook.

As I walk down the river, eyeing a fish carcass to process in the distance, my hope it is that it is not another hatchery fish, as my distance closes in on the carcass, it is another hatchery, my heart would drop. I estimate about a 70 to 80% hatchery stray rate during these surveys. One of the many questions I would ask myself during this time is; if ODFW intends to allow the strays in the upper basin, why take brood stock? (ODFW take 10% of the wild fish for brood stock).

In April the Native Fish Society and Pacific Rivers Council filed a 60-Day Notice Pursuant with the intent to file suit against ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) and NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) for the violations of the Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act in funding and operation of the Sandy River Hatchery in Sandy Oregon..

Historically, runs of native fish to the Sandy River Basin ranged as high as 15,000 Coho, 20,000 winter steelhead, 10,000 fall Chinook and 8,000 to 10,000 spring chinook. However, despite the fact that two 100 year-old dams have been removed, opening up 30 miles of the watershed, and nearly $100 million is being invested in habitat improvements by many parties, and the other protections afforded the areaChinook, Coho and steelhead populations continue to decline. Many streams in the Sandy River Basin (including the Sandy River, Salmon River, Zigzag River, and Still Creek) have been designated as critical habitat for Lower Columbia River Chinook and Steelhead. http://nativefishsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/Sandy-River-60-Day-Notice.pdf

The survey conducted on the Zig Zag River from the weir downstream to the the confluence of the Sandy River, approximately 81 redds where counted and above the weir 48 redds counted (ODFW put weirs in the upper basin to capture hatchery fish. The weir on the Zig Zag was placed about 2 miles up river from the confluence of the Sandy River the other weir was placed on the Salmon River about one mile above the confluence of the Sandy River.) Why are the weirs placed so high up in the system, I can only guess, easier access to brood stock?

Number of Chinook carcasses processed on the Zig Zag River wild vs hatchery.

Reach 1 wild 0 hatchery 5

Reach 2 wild 8 hatchery 2

Reach 3 wild 12 hatchery 25

Total wild 20 hatchery 32

Having the opportunity to observe Chinook spawning, it became obvious to me that hatchery fish are competing with the wild fish for spawning ground. Spawning gravel is limited and in some places there were multiple redds on top of one another.

Another question I would ask is; what is the success rate of hatchery fish spawning in the wild? If hatchery fish are going to continue spawning in the upper basin and hatchery fish are successful, then why continue running the hatchery?

Since Marmont Dam has come out the stray rate has been about 80-90 percent. It’s hard to imagine the wild Chinook population rebounding from what I have witnessed. Is Sandy River Chinook population on its way to becoming extinct or is there a chance?

From what I can tell, production levels and management practices at the Sandy Hatchery continue to adversely impact the natural populations in a manner that constitutes an unlawful taking under the ESA. What do we do about this?

Recently I spoke with Mark Sherwood at the Native Fish Society and he said the 60 day notice was successful. The agencies have agreed to review the Sandy River hatchery to see if it complies with the ESA under a process called "Hatchery Genetic Management Plans." (HGMP) Plus they made some very moderate changes to the hatchery operations itself, for example ending the wild broodstock harvest.

NFS will be watching the outcome of the HGMP process very closely and will determine whether to pursue future legal action if the process results in the continued decline of wild salmon and steelhead at the hands of the hatchery. NFS will be calling on our supporters and volunteers to help provide feedback to the agencies on the HGMPs when they are open for public comment.