The statewide steelhead plan provides a framework of policies and strategies
that will guide development of regional plans for the seven distinct
population segments around the state. Those policies and strategies address
all aspects of steelhead management, including fisheries, hatcheries,
habitat, regulatory compliance, research and monitoring.
In all of these areas, the
statewide plan gives top priority to “protection
of wild steelhead stocks to maintain and restore stocks to healthy levels.” So,
while the plan recognizes the value of providing diverse fishing opportunities,
it clearly states that fisheries must be consistent with conservation
goals for wild stocks. Moreover, it requires the Washington Department
of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) to identify and monitor changes necessary
in fisheries, hatcheries and habitat management to achieve those conservation
Many of those specific changes will be identified in regional management
plans, due for completion in 2010-11. However, WDFW will also apply the
conservation and fish management principles outlined in the statewide
plan to steelhead-management decisions in the intervening years.
There will likely be some changes in fisheries as WDFW reviews and defines
conservation goals for specific steelhead stocks. Changes in hatchery
production could also affect the number and timing of steelhead available
for harvest. Again, most of those changes will be identified during the
development of seven regional management plans.
It is important to recognize,
however, that steelhead fisheries are not considered to be a significant
factor in the decline of wild steelhead
populations in recent years. In listing Puget Sound stocks for protection
under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 2007, NOAA Fisheries
stated “we do not believe that overutilization is a factor limiting
the viability of the Puget Sound steelhead DPS (distinct population segment)
into the foreseeable future.” The agency has also issued similar
findings for steelhead fisheries in other state waters.
The main reason for these
findings is that the introduction of selective fisheries in the mid-1990s – requiring the release of wild, unmarked
steelhead – has focused most state steelhead fisheries on hatchery-origin
fish. Catch statistics show, for example, that hatchery fish made up
96 percent of all steelhead taken by anglers in 2003-04.
Selective fishing is one of many ongoing management strategies included
in the statewide plan along with new measures designed to provide greater
support and protection for naturally spawning steelhead populations in
Since 1992, five distinct
wild steelhead populations returning to the Columbia and Snake rivers – and, most recently, the Puget Sound
area – have been listed for protection under the federal ESA. Loss
of functional habitat presents a growing challenge to steelhead populations
throughout the state, and questions remain about how hatchery programs
should be designed to benefit wild stocks. Concerns about climate change
and its implications for future steelhead runs have also intensified
the need for clear management guidelines.
For all these reasons, WDFW
managers believed that a comprehensive review of steelhead management
strategies was in order. Complicating the issue,
the status of Washington’s wild steelhead populations varies greatly
from one region to the next. More than 90 percent of the wild steelhead
runs on the Olympic Peninsula and 60 percent in southwest Washington
were rated “healthy” in a scientific
assessment of steelhead
stocks completed by WDFW in 2008. But that is true of only 20 percent
of the runs in other areas of the state, pointing to the need for regional
planning within the general guidelines outlined in the statewide plan.
As noted in that assessment,
the sheer number of fish that return from year to year provides just
one indication of the health of steelhead
stocks. Scientists now recognize that the fecundity, genetic diversity,
the distribution of fish throughout a given watershed and the life history
of those fish are also important measures of a stock’s health.
The statewide plan requires that fishery managers pay greater attention
to all of these aspects of steelhead health in developing management
actions for individual stocks.
Loss of functional habitat – particularly freshwater habitat – is
generally believed to present the greatest risk to the state’s
wild steelhead populations. In its ESA listing for Puget Sound steelhead,
NOAA-Fisheries concluded “habitat is the principal factor limiting
the viability of the Puget Sound steelhead DPS (distinct population segment)
into the foreseeable future.”
In Puget Sound and other waters around the state, scientists note that
water diversions for agriculture, flood control, residential use and
hydropower have all reduced the amount of freshwater habitat used by
naturally spawning steelhead. Forestry, mining and industrial development
have also reduced or degraded habitat.
Steelhead are more vulnerable to these changes, because they spend more
time in freshwater than other anadromous species. Unlike salmon, they
often spend more than one year in freshwater and spawn in multiple years,
depositing their eggs farther up rivers and streams. In the ocean, they
also tend to school higher in the water column, making them more vulnerable
to climate change or surface temperature changes.
WDFW has limited authority over land-use decisions, but does administer
the Hydraulic Project Approval program, which regulates activities on
and near state waters that could affect fish life. The department also
coordinates habitat-restoration projects conducted by local governments,
Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups and other organizations. The statewide
steelhead management plan directs WDFW to emphasize steelhead conservation
in all of these programs.
The statewide plan expands on previous efforts to use state hatcheries
to rebuild wild fish stocks along with their traditional role of producing
fish for harvest. Over the past 25 years, the number of state hatcheries
involved in some aspect of wild salmon or steelhead recovery has increased
from two to 21. Recommendations issued by an independent group of scientists
commissioned by Congress in 2000 have resulted in hundreds of changes
in hatchery programs designed to benefit wild fish.
The statewide steelhead plan
builds on these efforts by setting clear standards for all state steelhead
hatcheries, consistent with the recommendations
provided by the independent scientists. First, hatchery managers must
identify whether a given facility will be managed on an “integrated” or “segregated” model.
For integrated facilities, designed to minimize genetic differences between
hatchery fish and local wild stocks, wild fish must dominate the genetic
representation of the single population. For segregated facilities, where
the goal is to keep hatchery fish separated from wild stocks, the gene
flow from hatchery fish to wild stocks cannot exceed 2 percent.
As in fishery management, the effect of these provisions in specific
areas will largely be determined by the regional management plans. It
is likely, however, that anglers will see some changes in steelhead production
as regional managers work to align hatchery programs with the new standards
established in the statewide steelhead plan.
Wild steelhead populations will certainly benefit from salmon-recovery
efforts initiated over the past decade, particularly those focusing on
habitat restoration. The regional salmon-recovery plans do provide suggestions
for actions related to hatcheries and harvest management, but focus primarily
on habitat improvements.
The steelhead management plan, on the other hand, provides clear direction
for new initiatives in hatchery and harvest management to be implemented
through seven regional management plans throughout the state. Those regional
plans, scheduled for completion over the next two to three years, will
build on concepts articulated in the salmon-recovery plans by laying
out specific actions to be implemented on the ground.
Yes. Each regional plan will go through a supplemental State
Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review, which includes a series of public hearings.
WDFW will also hold informational meetings for members of the public
interested in the development of the regional plans.
In developing the statewide
plan, WDFW held seven public meetings associated with the SEPA review
around the state. The Washington Fish and Wildlife
Commission also held three public meetings on the statewide plan before
approving it March 8, 2008. During the course of those hearings, WDFW
received over a hundred public comments on its proposal – many
of which were reflected in the final plan.