Relationship Between NOAA Recovery Priorities & WRIA 8 Plan Implementation

Relationship between NOAA Recovery Priorities & WRIA 8 Plan Implementation

• NOAA Population Recovery Approach (PRA): NOAA Fisheries developed a technical framework for ranking the recovery potential of the 22 populations of Puget Sound Chinook salmon and the watersheds supporting them. The PRA prioritizes Puget Sound Chinook populations according to NOAA’s assessed risk. NOAA plans to utilize this framework to focus recovery efforts on those populations and habitats with the greatest ability to contribute to species recovery.

WRIA 8 perspective: The PRA ranks WRIA 8 and both the Sammamish and Cedar populations the lowest, “tier 3,” although it is unclear in the document how NOAA plans to use this designation to guide recovery. The Puget Sound Chinook Recovery Plan says that the condition of all 22 remaining Puget Sound Chinook populations must improve. The Salmon Recovery Council commented on the PRA, to express concern that the PRA is not be consistent with the Recovery Plan’sfoundation that all 22 populations must improve and undermines the collaborative nature of recovery planning and implementation in Puget Sound. We also expressed concern that 1) the process to develop this prioritization was not open and collaborative; 2) that the “tier 3” ranking will have unintended negative consequences on salmon recovery efforts in our watershed; and 3) that our scientists have serious concerns regarding the technical framework and data used for the PRA’s proposed ranking of Chinook populations.

• NOAA Fisheries approval of Harvest Resource Management Plan (Harvest Plan): NOAA Fisheries signed a biological opinion approving a Harvest Plan that describes how the state of Washington and the Puget Sound Indian tribes will conduct the harvest of Puget Sound Chinook from 2010-2014. The Harvest Plan is designed to allow a limited catch of Chinook, while providing sufficient opportunity for the population to recover.The NOAA’s evaluation and pending determination is: “Though NOAA Fisheries concludes implementation of the resource plan will result in a range of risks to individual populations, it determines that range to be consistent with survival and recovery objectives for the broader Puget Sound Chinook species.”

WRIA 8 perspective: The WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery Council commented on this Harvest Plan in 2010 and on NOAA’s evaluation of the Harvest Plan when it came out in 2011. The Harvest Plandid not change much since the version we reviewed in January 2010.We remain concerned that the plan as written is overly optimistic about the status of the Cedar River population and does not provide adequate protection of the WRIA 8 Chinook populations. The earlier draft was also dismissive about the role of the Sammamish population in recovery of Puget Sound Chinook (this language improved in the second draft we reviewed). We are also concerned that the PRA was used in making NOAA’s evaluation of the Harvest Plan when the PRA had not yet been through public review and that WRIA 8 Chinook populations may be among the populations “at risk”.

• NOAA 5-Year Implementation Status Assessment Final Report (5-Year Review): In early 2011, NOAA Fisheries released the 5-Year Review, a qualitative evaluation of Puget Sound Chinook Salmon Recovery Plan implementation. They found that: habitat is still declining, habitat protection needs improvement, habitat work is primarily focused on capital projects and that funding levels are inadequate.In addition, Puget Sound tribes released a white paper suggesting that the lack of adequate salmon habitat protection, identified in the NOAA Recovery Assessment Report does not support their treaty rights to harvest salmon, and call for additional federal focus and priority on the topic.