2014 Ocean Selective Fishery Sampling Report

The Pacific Fishery Management Council (PFMC) adopted 2014 recreational and commercial troll fisheries for all salmon species in the area between Cape Falcon, Oregon and the U.S./Canada border. Recreational mark-selective fisheries (MSFs) for Chinook and coho and commercial MSFs for coho 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 recreational Chinook MSF in Marine Areas 1 through 4 for the fifth consecutive year, following state-tribal agreement during the North of Falcon process. The fishery was open for 18 total days in May and June in the northern coastal areas and for 14 days in the southern coastal areas. Consistent with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) intent of Puget Sound/Strait of Juan de Fuca Chinook MSFs as well as the prior ocean pilot Chinook MSFs, 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 on-water observation, a Voluntary Trip Report (VTR) system, and dockside creel sampling. 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 MSFs were adopted in 2014 for the sixteenth 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 mark-status), iv) the coded-wire tag (CWT) stock composition of landed coho, and v) the total mortality of marked and unmarked coho.