1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Emerging salmon fry. 



The abundance of individual stocks of Pacific 

 salmon and the mixture ot stocks contributing to 

 fisheries fluctuate considerably. Consequently, 

 landings fluctuate. For all species, there is excess 

 fishing power and overcapitalization ot the fish- 

 ing fleets. While harvest rates in recent years have 

 been held near, or below, levels that would pro- 

 duce the long-term potential yield, environmen- 

 tal conditions have resulted in poor ocean survival 

 of chinook and coho salmon in general and some 

 individual stocks ot other species. Because ot the 

 depressed status ot many populations ot chinook 

 and coho salmon, these two species are consid- 

 ered overexploited while the iither species are con- 

 sidered fullv exploited (lable 12-1 ). 



Management Situation 



The management ot this resource is complex, 

 involving many stocks originating from various riv- 

 ers and jurisdictions. Ocean fisheries tor chinook 

 and coho salmon are managed under a fishery 

 management plan by the Pacific Fishery Manage- 

 ment Council (PFMC) with the cooperation of 

 the states and tribal fishery agencies. Within Puget 

 Sound and the Columbia River, fisheries for these 

 two species are managed by the states and tribes. 

 The other three species (pink, chum, and sockeye 

 salmon) are managed primarily by the Pacific 

 Salmon Commission (PSC), the State ot Wash- 

 ington, and tribal fishery agencies. 



Fisheries are managed using a variety ot regu- 

 lations. Ocean fisheries are managed primarily by 

 gear restrictions, minimum size limits, and time 



and area closures; although harvest quotas have 

 been placed on individual fisheries in recent years. 

 Ihe PSC has used harvest quotas, updated on the 

 basis ot inseason abundance forecasts, and cumu- 

 lative impact quotas for weak stocks have been used 

 to regulate some Columbia River commercial fish- 

 eries. 



Pacific salmon depend on freshwater habitat 

 for spawning and rearing ot juveniles. Because the 

 quality ot freshwater habit.il is largely a function 

 of land management practices, salmon production 

 is heavily influenced by entities not directly in- 

 volved in the management of fisheries. Salmon 

 management involves the cooperation ot the U.S. 

 Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau ot Reclamation, 

 Army Corps ot F^ngineers, Faivironmental Protec- 

 tion Agency, Bonneville Power Administration, 

 state resource agencies, Indian tribes, municipal 

 utility districts, agricultural water districts, private 

 timber companies, and landowners. 



On September 12, 1994, in response to an in- 

 creasing number of petitions to list various popii- 



Table 12-1 



Productivity in metric tons 

 and status of Pacific Coast 

 salmon resources. 



Species 



Chinook 



Coho 



Pink 



Sockeye 



Chum 



Total 



17,304 



33,312 



33,312 



'RAY IS for 1996-97, except pink salmon which is for the years 1993, 1995, and 1997 



•Potential yields include doubling of production for some stocks 



^Recreational harvest was converted from numbers of fish to approximate weight using average weights of salmon caught in commercial 



fishenes from 1993-97 Chinook=5 38 kg. coho=2 96 kg, pink^l 70 kg, sockeye=2 44 kg, and chum=4 16 kg 



1 50 



