Final Draft: Quicksilver Portfolio: Restoring Puget Sound Steelhead & Fisheries (2020)

A Vision for the Future

In 2017 the Puget Sound Steelhead Advisory Group (PSSAG) embarked on an unprecedented task – to develop a portfolio of watershed–specific conservation, fishery, and hatchery strategies for Puget Sound steelhead. It was not an easy task. Puget Sound steelhead returns are less than 5-10% of the historical level, and our passion for steelhead had often led to bitter disagreements on the path forward.

But through two years of meetings, more than forty presentations from steelhead experts, and hundreds of hours of challenging discussions, we built a broad consensus for a portfolio of proactive management strategies and actions.

Our ultimate goal is a future in which wild steelhead are no longer threatened with extinction and are healthy enough to support fishing.

Through the Eyes of Steelhead

Our rivers and Puget Sound once teemed with steelhead – about 450,000 – but many of these waters are no longer fish friendly. We face a legacy left by a century of hatchery, fishery, and habitat actions that threaten our vision of productive rivers and abundant steelhead for future generations. And despite our good intentions, our protection of seals and sea lions has resulted in a gauntlet in which many juvenile steelhead are eaten before they can successfully pass on to the Pacific Ocean. Through the eyes of steelhead, our waters no longer offer the cool, clean, accessible, and food-rich environment in which they thrived for eons.

We are concerned by the current lack of focus on restoring the productive waters necessary for steelhead. Comprehensive recommendations regarding the protection and restoration of habitat are beyond the scope of our advisory group, but we would be derelict in our responsibilities if we did not speak to the preeminent importance of these factors in conserving and recovering Puget Sound steelhead. We offer principles to guide protection and restoration of our northwest natural heritage. These principles recognize that protecting what habitat remains is essential, protecting relatively intact watersheds is critical, and that diverse habitats and steelhead populations residing throughout our watersheds provide insurance for the future.

Experimental and Adaptive Approach

We recognize that our understanding of Puget Sound steelhead is incomplete, that learning more is essential to successful conservation and restoration, and that fisheries and hatcheries will need to be managed adaptively to achieve conservation and fishery objectives.

It is fundamentally important, and our overarching recommendation, to develop and implement an experimental design to test strategies and address key questions associated with Puget Sound steelhead conservation, recovery, and fisheries. We are aware that the tribes, WDFW, NMFS, and non-governmental organizations are conducting many excellent research and monitoring programs, but it does not appear that an integrated, coordinated and comprehensive program is in place to address some of the larger scale questions.

There remain uncertainties about the effects of hatcheries on wild steelhead and the ability of wild steelhead to recover in the face of development and climate change. That is why our recommended portfolio is structured to enable controlled experiments to answer these critically important questions. Based on what we learn we can adjust management to better meet conservation and sustainable fisheries objectives.

QuickSilver Portfolio

We believe that management should match the reality of conditions on the ground. We propose using common sense coupled with solid science to direct steelhead management and provide a diverse portfolio of steelhead rivers that achieve both conservation and fishery goals.

The QuickSilver portfolio (see graphic on final page of Executive Summary) was developed during two years of meetings with scientists conducting research on steelhead, biologists intimately familiar with the rivers and steelhead runs, recovery planners, and NMFS staff engaged in ESA-related analyses of fisheries, hatcheries, and habitat. Based on this foundational information, and through hundreds of hours of challenging discussions, we built a portfolio of proactive management strategies and actions.

The structure of our recommended portfolio is intended to provide the opportunity to test alternative strategies in different watersheds. It bears emphasis that this experimental approach is an essential component of the PSSAG recommendations. Experiments must be developed and conducted in a timely fashion to inform management and maintain PSSAG support for the QuickSilver portfolio.

Join with Us in Restoring the State Fish in Puget Sound Rivers

We ask you to join with us in supporting the funding, monitoring, hatchery production, and other actions needed to implement the QuickSilver portfolio. Together, we can conserve wild steelhead, restore fishing opportunities, and create a future in which the rich tradition of steelhead fishing is continued and passed on to future generations.