. . . Pacific Coast Salmon Fisheries 



58 



Chinook and 

 Coho Salmon 



Ocean fisheries for these species are man- 

 aged by the PFMC. The decline in the 

 ocean coho catch during the past 20 years, 

 particularly off Washington, is largely due 

 to a shift in catch to "inside fisheries," like 

 Puget Sound, in compliance with a Federal 

 court ruling in the early 1970's that Wash- 

 ington treaty Indians are entitled to up to 

 50% of the catch of salmon migrating 

 through their usual and accustomed tribal 

 fishing areas. 

 Most ocean chinook are caught by the 



commercial troll fishery, whereas an in- 

 creasing share of the ocean catch of coho 

 is being allocated to sport fishermen. An- 

 nual catch quotas now limit the entire coho 

 catch off Washington, Oregon, and Califor- 

 nia, and the chinook catch off Washington 

 and Oregon (north of Cape Falcon). In 

 1990, there were 4,550 troll boats licensed 

 to fish commercially off these three states. 

 For the sport fishery, about 600 charter 

 boats were licensed and 657,000 angler- 

 trips or days were made. 



Sockeye, Pink, 

 and chum Salmon 



Management of these three species rests 

 primarily with the PSC and state and tribal 

 fishery agencies. Washington catches of 

 sockeye and pink salmon are composed 

 largely offish migrating to Canada's Fraser 

 River. Although recent Fraser River salmon 



runs have been extremely large, their U.S. 

 catch is limited under the U.S. -Canada 

 Salmon Treaty of 1 985. U.S. stocks of pink, 

 sockeye, and chum salmon, although lim- 

 ited in range and size, appear to be fairly 

 stable. 



ISSUES 



Freshwater Habitat 



Worsening freshwater (spawning) habitat 

 has been the main cause of the salmon 

 decline. This includes siltation problems 

 and, particularly, the lack of water for 

 spawning and fish passage. For example, 

 serious fish passage problems at Columbia 

 River hydroelectric dams have been a 

 major factor in salmon declines. In Califor- 

 nia, the conflict is primarily between fish 

 needs for water and farm irrigation de- 

 mands. 

 Owing to habitat losses, the Sacramento 



winter-run chinook was listed as threatened 

 under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) 

 in 1990. In April 1991, the NMFS recom- 

 mended that a Snake River sockeye stock 

 be listed as endangered under the ESA. 

 Requests have also been received to list 

 spring, summer, and fall chinook stocks 

 from the Snake River owing to their poor 

 condition. Wild coho stocks of the lower 

 Columbia River were recently declared ex- 

 tinct by the MMFS. 



Wild vs. Hatchery Stocks 



Increased production by salmon hatcher- 

 ies, particularly of chinook and coho, has 

 raised concerns about the relationship be- 

 tween natural (wild) and hatchery-pro- 

 duced fish. Though hatchery fish can 



supplement natural production, they also 

 may compete with or even replace wild 

 salmon. This potential problem must be 

 addressed when trying to increase de- 

 pressed wild salmon runs. 



Treaty Conflicts 



Conflicts between treaty Indian and non-In- 

 dian fishermen sometimes arise. Lack of 

 agreement over Indian catch allowances in 

 California's Klamath River made the set- 

 ting of 1991 ocean salmon fishing regula- 



tions by the PFMC a challenge. In Washing- 

 ton, a Federal court ruling that salmon 

 must be managed to protect the smallest 

 or the weakest stock has curtailed ocean 

 catches in recent years. 



incidental catch 



Some salmon, mainly chinook, are acci- 

 dentally caught at sea in the Pacific whiting 

 fishery. Though the number taken is small 

 compared with catches in other fisheries, 

 this incidental catch becomes a politically 



sensitive issue when ocean fisheries are 

 severely restricted, as in 1991 when troll 

 fishing was prohibited in certain coastal 

 areas. 



