281 



DRAFT 



that salmon are available to all pinnipeds each day of the year; etc.. In addition, the 

 outcome of these calculations can be altered significantly by changing a few of the 

 estimates slightly. For example, there are probably a lot more than 200 California sea 

 lion over-winter migrants and more "resident" northern sea lions. Increasing these 

 numbers would increase the estimated consumption and alter the percentages given. On 

 the other hand, if more accurate consumption rates for Steller sea lion sex and age 

 classes were used, the estimated consumption for this species would decline. These 

 types of estimates are very inaccurate and imprecise. A wide range of desired 

 outcomes could be achieved depending upon the information used, and the assumptions 

 incorporated into the analysis. Extreme caution should be used when comparing these 

 estimates to "hard* estimates such as commercial fishery landing data. 



REVIEW OF HARVEST FIGURES 



The review of the figures presented in the report was primarily limited to figures 

 presenting fishery harvest information. Figures not discussed in this section were not 

 verified for accuracy. 



Page 265, Figure 1.1-1. Lower Columbia River Landings of Chinook Salmon. 



This figure appears to be an accurate representation of chinook landings in pounds for 

 the entire Columbia (Indian and non-Indian) commercial fishery. However, the title of 

 the figure is misleading in that it says lower Columbia (indicating below Bonneville 

 Dam). Also, the title does not indicate these are commercial landings only. Three 

 sources are cited; however, only two are listed in the References. 



Plage 265, Figure 1.1-2. Lower Columbia River Landings of Sockeye Salmon. 



This figure has many problems. The intent is to show total Indian and non-Indian 

 commercial landings from the entire Columbia. Similar to Figure 1.1-1 the title does 

 not say this. Both axis are mis-labeled. The y-axis is supposed to be millions of 

 pounds and it is graduated from to 50 million (a 10-fold exaggeration). Clearly, it 

 should be graduated from to 5 million. This is a very critical feature of the figure in 

 that it portrays an image of historic landings plummeting from 40-50 million pounds 

 annually to in the present. Compounding the problem is that the authors failed to 

 mention there had been no commercial sockeye fishery in 12 of the last 18 years. 

 Additionally, the authors display landings for the early years that do not agree with our 

 records. On the x-axis the early years do not match the peak catch years as we know 

 them and a typo exists for 1900. 



In addition, three sources are cited; the first is accurate and listed in References, the 

 second is not listed in References, and the third (as was the case for this source in many 

 of the harvest tables) is erroneously cited in that it refers to the Clackamas Subbasin 

 Plan, when in fact the data is from ODFW and WDF (1991). This error is carried 

 through on many of the following harvest figures. 



A-75 



