2012 Ocean Mark-Selective Fishery Report; Marine Areas 1-4 (Final Draft; 6-10-13)

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) adopted 2012 recreational and commercial troll fisheries for all salmon species in the area between Cape Falcon, Oregon and the U.S./Canada border. Mark-selective recreational fisheries for Chinook and coho and mark-selective coho commercial fisheries were included in all four Catch Record Card (CRC) areas of coastal Washington (Areas 1, 2, 3, and 4). Council-area fisheries were adopted based on assumptions regarding coho and Chinook abundance, distribution of stocks, Chinook age class distributions, coho mark rates, compliance with selective fishery regulations, and incidental mortality.

The PFMC adopted an ocean mark-selective Chinook fishery (MSF) in Marine Areas 1 through 4 for the third consecutive year, following state-tribal agreement during the North of Falcon process, operating for 15 days beginning June 9 in the southern areas and June 16 in the northern areas. Consistent with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) intent of Puget Sound/Strait of Juan de Fuca mark-selective Chinook fisheries as well as the 2010 and 2011 ocean mark-selective Chinook pilot fisheries, the primary goal for this selective fishery was to provide meaningful opportunity to the recreational angling public while minimally impacting ESA-listed Chinook salmon encountered in the mixed-stock ocean fisheries. WDFW’s Ocean Sampling Program (OSP) continued its intensive monitoring program in all ocean ports during the season to collect data to estimate key parameters characterizing the fishery and its impacts on unmarked salmon. Sampling activities included dockside creel sampling, on-water observation, and a Voluntary Trip Report (VTR) system. Among other parameters, sampling activities emphasized data collection needs for the estimation of: i) the mark rate of the targeted Chinook population, ii) the total number of Chinook salmon harvested (by size [legal or sublegal] and mark-status [marked or unmarked]), iii) the total number of Chinook salmon released (by size/mark-status), iv) the coded-wire tag- (CWT) and/or DNA-based stock composition of marked and unmarked Chinook mortalities, and v) the total mortality of marked and unmarked double index tag (DIT) CWT stocks.

Additionally, coho mark-selective fisheries were adopted in 2012 for the fourteenth consecutive year, and the OSP continued its intensive monitoring program in all ocean ports. Sampling activities were identical to those employed during the Chinook MSF. Sampling activities during the coho MSF emphasized data collection needs for the estimation of: i) the mark rate of the targeted coho population, ii) the total number of coho harvested by mark-status, including an estimate of angler compliance rate with coho MSF regulations, iii) the total number of coho released (by size/mark-status), iv) the coded-wire tag- (CWT) stock composition of landed coho, and v) the total mortality of marked and unmarked coho.