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A SUMMARY OF THE TEAM'S 



RECOVERYPLAN 



RECOMMENDATIONS 



INSTITUTIONAL AND 

 MANAGEMENT CHANGES 



The Team makes two recommendations for improving the 

 decision-making process for Columbia-Snake River Basin 

 salmon concerns throughout the range of the fish. The 

 Team believes these actions are necessary to achieve 

 recovery, to prevent further listings, and certainly to 

 minimize costs and accelerate progress. 



Future management must emphasize disciplined 

 coordination, teamwork, and communication. The Team 

 intends that a single organization be empowered to make 

 final decisions when consensus can not be obtained. The 

 Team concludes that the most appropriate agency for this 

 responsibility is the National Manne Fisheries Service. 



The Team also believes that an impartial, independent, 

 science-based group should be responsible for ensuring that 

 the Columbia-Snake River Basin management system for 

 anadromous fish works effectively in setting priorities, 

 ensuring a scientific basis for decisions, and promoting 

 relevant science. The Team recommends that an 

 independent five-member oversight committee — called the 

 Salmon Oversight Committee — be formed to fill this critical 

 decision-making void. This group will recommend 

 investment priorities for anadromous fish expenditures in 

 the Columbia-Snake River Basin, and work with all affected 

 federal, tribal, regional, state, and private entities to ensure 

 conformance with the goals and objectives of the Recovery 

 Plan. Such an entity would help to make certain that 

 relevant permits and biological opinions issued by National 

 Marine Fisheries Service are consistent with Recovery Plan 

 priorities. Furthermore, the Salmon Oversight Committee 

 would resolve jurisdictional disputes, provide oversight for 

 Recovery Plan implementation, advise the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service when changes are required in the 

 Recovery Plan, form specific scientific sub-groups, and 

 provide coordination with scientific sub-groups which are 

 already in existence. 



RECOVERY GOALS AND 

 OBJECTIVES 



The Team's recovery requirements and dehsting criteria for 

 Endangered Species Act-listed Snake River Basin salmon 

 fall into two major categories: ( 1 ) remedy of the 

 environmental (and other) factors that have reduced the 

 stocks to levels with a high probability of extinction; and (2) 



rebuilding populations to levels where there is evidence of 

 improved productivity, even when considering the potential 

 impacts of severe stochastic environmental events (e.g., 

 protracted drought, oceanic El Nino effects, etc.). 



The Team believes that after applying the recovery 

 recommendations, it will require at least two to three salmon 

 generations (eight to twelve years) to assess the recovery of 

 Endangered Species Act-listed salmon stocks. Population 

 trends must be carefully evaluated, and increases can be 

 considered to be significant only when accompanied by the 

 environmental improvements specified in the Team's 

 recommendations. 



A spawner-spawner ratio of 1 (i.e., one pair of parental 

 spawners to one pair of next-generation spawners) means 

 that the population is neither increasing nor decreasing. If 

 the ratio remains less than 1 for extended periods, the 

 population is in decline, and could continue into 

 extinction — a risk which has led to Endangered Species Act 

 listing of Snake River salmon. For population rebuilding, 

 the spawner-spawner ratio must be greater than 1 . 



As a criterion for population recovery leading to delisting 

 (based on spawner-spawner ratio and habitat use); the Team 

 proposes the following. 



For each listed "species, " the spawner-to-spawner 

 ratio should achieve a geometric mean greater than 

 2.0 (= 2:1) over at least two generations 

 (approximately eight years), and habitat seeding as 

 measured by spawner abundance or parr densities 

 should show similar increases in levels of 

 abundance and use of available spawning and 

 rearing habitats. These criteria should be applied 

 both to the species in aggregate and to component 

 subpopulations selected as subbasin indicators of 

 species recovery. Evaluation of stock recovery 

 trends must incorporate risk-assessment processes 

 to guard against influencing conclusions through 

 factors which are extraneous to true recovery. 



Based on historic considerations, the Team suggests the 

 following as alternative delisting criteria for spring/summer 

 Chinook salmon. 



Spring/summer chinook salmon delisting may be 

 considered when an eight year geometric mean of 

 ruzturally produced adult fish passing over Ice 

 Harbor Dam approximates a reasonable fraction 

 (e.g.. 50%) of the average number passing over 

 that same dam in a base period of 1962-1967; and 

 when spawner abundance or parr densities in 

 subpopulation watersheds approach equivalent 

 proportions of the 1960s levels ofaburuiance and 

 habitat use. 



