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What is SaSI?
Washington's eleven species and subspecies of native salmonid fish comprise a spectacular commercially and culturally important biological resource. Unfortunately, this resource is under heavy pressure from human population growth and development. Urban and industrial land conversion, forest and agricultural practices, water diversion, municipal water demands, overfishing and hydropower development have contributed to the decline of several salmonid stocks. A large recovery effort at the local, state, and federal level is now underway to prevent further declines and improve the condition of declining stocks.
An invaluable tool in the process of restoring these stocks to healthy and productive levels is the Salmonid Stock Inventory (SaSI). SaSI is a standardized, uniform approach to identifying and monitoring the status of Washington's salmonid fish stocks. The inventory is a compilation of data on all wild stocks and a scientific determination of each stock's status as: healthy, depressed, critical, unknown, or extinct. SaSI thus is a basis for prioritizing recovery efforts and for measuring the results of future recovery actions. SaSI is a cooperative product of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the tribal co-managers.
SaSI development began in 1992, as an effort by 20 western Washington tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's predecessor agencies, the Washington Department of Fisheries and the Washington Department of Wildlife. At that time the inventory was called the Salmon and Steelhead Stock Inventory (SASSI). The SASSI documents produced in 1993-4, totaling some 2600 pages described and categorized the status of 435 salmon and steelhead stocks.
In 1997 the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife produced an additional volume on bull trout and Dolly Varden, and with this inclusion of salmonid fishes which were neither salmon nor steelhead, the inventory was renamed the Salmonid Stock Inventory. The bull trout/Dolly Varden inventory was updated in 1998. Currently a coastal cutthroat trout stock inventory is nearing completion.
The co-managers' original intent was to regularly update and revise SaSI documents, and with the 1999 creation of the Salmonid Stock Conservation Biology Unit in WDFW's Fish Program, a comprehensive updating and revision of the SaSI documents is underway and will be completed by mid-year 2001. Thereafter the documents will be updated regularly. In addition, new species and subspecies will be added as they become conservation priorities. For example, we plan to produce a westslope cutthroat trout stock inventory in 2001.
What is the Current SaSI Understanding of Stock Status?
The 1993-1994 SASSI documents recognized 435 stocks of salmon and steelhead. SaSI defines a stock as a group of fish that return to spawn in a given area at the same time. They are for the most part reproductively isolated from other such groups. A "run" of fish may comprise more than one stock, and a stock may comprise several local spawning populations. The bull trout/Dolly Varden stock inventory recognized another 80 stocks. Bull trout and Dolly Varden are taxonomically distinct species but are difficult to distinguish in the field in Washington, and no attempt was made to separate them in the stock inventory. The number of stocks in each category is presented in the table below. Dates of status determinations are included in parentheses.
| SaSI stock classifications, by species. | ||||||||
| Category | Chinook (1992) | Chum (1992) | Coho (1992) | Pink (1992) | Sockeye (1992) | Steelhead (1992) | Bull trout/ D.Varden (1998) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Healthy | 54 | 48 | 37 | 9 | 3 | 36 | 14 | 201 |
| Depressed | 35 | 3 | 34 | 2 | 4 | 44 | 2 | 124 |
| Critical | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 18 |
| Unknown | 14 | 18 | 18 | 2 | 1 | 60 | 58 | 171 |
| Extinct | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | 108 | 72 | 90 | 15 | 9 | 141 | 80 | 515 |
A total of 515 stocks have been identified. Of these, 201 stocks (39%) were rated as healthy, 124 stocks (24%) were rated as depressed, 18 (3%) were rated as critical, and 171(33%) were of unknown status. The percentage of stocks of unknown status varies considerably, from 11% in sockeye to 72% in bull trout/Dolly Varden. Note that this table does not include a 1999 revision of Hood Canal chum salmon and does not yet include cutthroat trout.
What are the Critical Stocks?
Critical stocks are those that have declined to the point that the stocks are in danger of significant loss of genetic diversity, or are at risk of extinction. Stocks now listed under the Endangered Species Act are in red type.
Ahtanum Creek -- bull trout
Asotin Creek -- spring chinook
Baker River -- sockeye
Deer Creek -- coho
Discovery Bay -- summer chum
Dungeness River (Lower) -- pink
Dungeness River -- spring/summer chinook
Elwha River -- pink
Hood Canal -- summer chum
Kachess Lake -- bull trout
Keechelus Lake -- bull trout
Naches -- bull trout
Nooksack River, North Fork -- chinook
Nooksack River, South Fork -- chinook
Teanaway River, North Fork -- bull trout
White (Puyallup) River -- spring chinook
Yakima -- bull trout
What are the Depressed Stocks?
A depressed stock is one whose production is below expected levels, based on available habitat and natural variation in survival rates, but above where permanent damage is likely. Stocks now listed under the Endangered Species Act are in red type.
Puget Sound Area
Cedar River -- sockeye
Dewatto River -- coho, winter steelhead
Discovery Bay -- winter steelhead
Dosewallips River -- pink, winter steelhead
Duckabush River -- coho, winter steelhead
Dungeness River -- winter steelhead, summer steelhead, coho
Dungeness River (Upper) -- pink
Elwha River -- winter steelhead, summer steelhead
Hoko River -- fall chinook
Hood Canal (NE) -- coho
Hood Canal (SE)-- coho
Lake Washington -- winter steelhead
Lake Washington/Sammamish Tribs -- coho, sockeye
Lake Washington Beach -- sockeye
Lower Sauk River -- summer chinook
Lower Skagit River -- chinook
Morse Creek -- coho, winter steelhead
Newaukum Creek -- coho
Puyallup River -- coho
Pysht/Twin/Deep Rivers -- coho
Quilcene/Dabob Bay -- coho
Samish River -- winter steelhead
Sekiu/Sail -- coho
Sequim Bay -- coho, summer chum
Skagit River -- coho
Skokomish River -- winter steelhead
Snohomish River -- summer chinook, fall chinook
Stillaguamish River -- summer chinook, fall chinook, coho
Suiattle River -- spring chinook
Tahuya River -- winter steelhead
Tolt River -- summer steelhead
Coastal Area
Clearwater River -- spring chinook
Fall River -- fall chinook
Ozette River -- sockeye
Queets River -- spring chinook
Quinault River -- spring chinook
Satsop River -- summer chinook, winter steelhead
Skookumchuck/Newaukum Rivers -- winter steelhead
Lower Columbia River Area
Abernathy Creek -- coho, winter steelhead
Bonneville Tribs. -- coho
Cowlitz River -- coho, winter steelhead
Coweeman River -- coho, winter steelhead
Elochoman River -- coho, winter steelhead
Germany Creek -- coho, winter steelhead
Grays River -- fall chum, coho, winter steelhead
Green (Toutle) River -- fall chinook, coho, winter steelhead
Hamilton Creek -- fall chum
Kalama River -- coho, summer steelhead
Lewis River -- coho
Lewis River, East Fork -- coho, winter steelhead
Lewis River, North Fork -- summer steelhead, winter steelhead
Mill Creek -- coho, winter steelhead
Salmon Creek -- coho
Skamokawa Creek -- coho
Toutle River, South Fork -- fall chinook, coho
Toutle River, North Fork -- winter steelhead
Toutle River -- coho
Washougal River -- coho
Upper Columbia River Area
American River -- spring chinook
Asotin Creek -- summer steelhead
Bumping Lake -- bull trout
Chewuch River -- spring chinook
Chiwawa River -- spring chinook
Entiat River -- spring chinook, summer steelhead
Grande Ronde River -- summer steelhead
Klickitat River -- spring chinook, coho
Little Wenatchee River -- spring chinook
Lost River -- spring chinook
Methow River -- spring chinook, summer chinook
Methow/Okanogan Rivers -- summer steelhead
Naches River -- spring chinook
Nason Creek -- spring chinook
Okanogan River -- summer chinook
Panther (Wind) Creek -- summer steelhead
Snake River -- fall chinook
Touchet River -- summer steelhead
Trout (Wind) Creek -- summer steelhead
Tucannon River -- spring chinook, summer steelhead
Twisp River -- spring chinook
Walla Walla River -- summer steelhead
Wenatchee River -- summer steelhead
White (Wenatchee) River -- spring chinook
White Salmon River -- summer steelhead, winter steelhead, tule fall chinook
Wind River -- spring chinook, summer steelhead, tule fall chinook
Yakima River -- summer steelhead
Yakima River (Upper) -- spring chinook
Other Stock Classifications
Healthy: 39% of the stocks were found to be healthy. The term "healthy" covers a wide range of actual conditions, from robust to those without surplus production for harvest. Just because a stock is listed as healthy does not necessarily mean that managers have no current concerns or that production levels are adequate. Some SaSI stocks listed as healthy are in fact listed under the Endangered Species Act because listings are made on stock groups called evolutionarily significant units (ESUs). Also, keep in mind that most stock determinations were made in 1992, and that status of some stocks may have changed considerably since then.
Unknown: For many stocks, there simply is insufficient information to rate them. Many of these are historically small populations and could be especially vulnerable to any negative impacts. There is an immediate need to collect more information on them.
Extinct: SaSI does not identify stocks that went extinct in the distant past, but one stock, Chambers Creek summer chum, was determined to have gone extinct during recent times. In addition, several possible stocks of spring chinook were not listed because of a lack of agreement on whether or not they existed at the time status determinations were made.
