Comprehensive Management Plan for Puget Sound Chinook: Harvest Management Component - Annual Postseason Report 2010-11 Fishing Season

This annual report on the Puget Sound Chinook Comprehensive Harvest Management Plan summarizes results of salmon fisheries occurring between May 1, 2010 and April 30, 2011. This includes comparisons of pre-season projections with actual catch in all commercial and some recreational fisheries. 2009 Recreational catch estimates are presented for those areas where data were not available in time for the 2009-2010 report. Chinook spawning escapement estimates for 2010 are reported for all Puget Sound populations, with details on escapement surveys and estimation methods. Comparisons are also made between pre-season projections of escapement, and actual results.

Commercial Chinook catch in Puget Sound pre-terminal net fisheries (i.e., the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Rosario / Georgia Straits) was higher than projected in all areas. This was primarily a result of the unexpected large return of Fraser River sockeye in 2010. Commercial catches in the Nooksack, Skagit, and Strait of Juan de Fuca terminal areas were all near expectations. Catch in South Sound in aggregate was near expectation, although some areas were well below and some were well above projections. Catch was slightly above preseason projections in the Stillaguamish/Snohomish (due to large catches in the Tulalip Bay extreme terminal area) and Hood Canal areas.

Marine and freshwater landed recreational Chinook catch in the 2009-2010 season was estimated, from a combination of creel and preliminary Catch Record Card data, to be 49,750, well below the pre-season projection of 61,000. Creel survey-based estimates of catch in 2009-2010 mark-selective recreational fisheries in Areas 5, 9-10, and 11, Skagit, Skykomish, and Nisqually rivers are included in this report. Total encounter estimates for the 2010-11 marine area selective fisheries were higher than expected in Area 5, but much lower than expected in Areas 9, 10 and 11.

Spring Chinook escapement was above predictions for Skagit, White and Dungeness, andbelow for Nooksack. For summer/fall stocks, escapement was lower than predicted for the majority of management units.

Coded-wire tag sampling of 2009 commercial fisheries achieved sampling rate above 20% in most, but not all areas. Areas 12C/12H (Hood Canal), 13A-F ( South Sound), and the Puyallup/White rivers were the areas with the most substantial catches, but with sampling rates below 20%. All marine area recreational fisheries except Area 13 (South Sound) were sampled at rates between 10% and 50% for the year.